


A Different Type Of Collective

by ThatOddNerd



Category: Agent Carter - Fandom
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, One Shot Collection, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-05
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-03-10 14:31:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 76,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3293846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatOddNerd/pseuds/ThatOddNerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of one-shots mostly Peggy/Daniel, but may branch out to explore other relationships.</p><p>I take requests/prompts!</p><p>SPOILERS FOR UPCOMING AND PAST EPISODES.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bringing Together Friends In Odd Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In all the possible scenarios that Peggy had thought up, and she had thought of many, she needed to be prepared, where she was caught helping Stark, very few of them included Sousa. Even fewer included him pointing a gun at her chest and looking more than ready to shoot her if he had to.

* * *

 

"There is more to this than you know." Peggy told the man in front of her, pointing a gun right at her chest. In all the possible scenarios that Peggy had thought up, and she had thought of many, she needed to be prepared, where she was caught helping Stark, very few of them included Sousa. Even fewer included him pointing a gun at her chest and looking more than ready to shoot her if he had to. 

"Oh really? What is there to know Carter? You have been helping Stark this entire time! And Spider Raymond..." 

"I did not kill Raymond!" Peggy was glaring at Sousa who was glaring right back. 

"How am I supposed to believe that Peggy? How? You were seen going up to his office, no one saw anyone else going up there, so how..."

"I heard someone coming! Thompson! I heard commotion downstairs and believed, correctly, that Thompson was coming, and so I ran! I slipped out. Raymond was unconscious but breathing when I left that office Sousa!" 

"So someone magically slipped past everyone else, into the office, and shot him without anyone seeing them? How is that possible?"

"Oh Thompson made it _very_ possible!" Peggy was seething now. "I left, the commotion Thompson caused had everyone's eyes on the floor and no one guarding the door to the office. It is very possible Sousa." Peggy was noticing, with a feeling of triumph, that Sousa's confidence in his conviction was starting to waver a bit. She saw the look in his eyes change, and his gun dropped for a second before going back up. 

"Why should I believe you?" 

"Why _shouldn't_ you believe me?" Peggy carefully started walking towards him, hands up, stopping for a moment when his grip on the gun tightened. 

"Stark is a traitor." Sousa commented, but his confidence was dropping slowly and Peggy could tell.

"No, he is not. Stark is many, many things, but he is not a traitor. He would never sell to an enemy. The others, they see what they want to see about Stark. They weren't around him during the war, they weren't up there with him when he flew as a civilian to help out, they didn't see him in the lab." Peggy tried not to let her voice waver. "They weren't in the room when Mr. Rogers went down and we heard it happening. They didn't see how he looked after. No one saw what the war did to him." 

"He..."

"He was shaken by the experience, deeply. He lost a good friend, many good friends, during the war. Stark is and is not the person people think he is. He can be irresponsible, a  complete ass, selfish, and egotistical, but Stark is not a traitor." 

"People..."

"Again, only see what they want. No one bothers to learn more about Stark, get to know him better, because no one cares. They see what they want to see because they want a fallback, they want someone, someone famous, to point at and say 'Oh of course he did that, it's him!', without even stopping to think that they are genuinely hurting someone who doesn't deserve a lot of what is being said about them." Sousa, no longer glaring nor pointing the gun at her, still appeared tense. He was looking at her, a cool, calculating expression on his face, and trying, she had no doubt, to decide whether or not he should believe her. 

"Fine." Peggy let out a breath she had no idea she'd been holding, and Sousa put his gun back into it's holster. "If Stark isn't the main issue here, who is?"

"Leviathan." Peggy could hear the others coming, getting closer. She was resisting the urge to bolt, but it was getting more and more difficult. "It's a Russian organization."

"Okay." Sousa nodded at her. "Alright. Fine, I believe you."

"Good." Peggy felt a smile surge up and didn't stop it. "Good. I'm glad."

"You better run, Thompson's getting close." Sousa said after a few seconds.

"What about you?" Sousa frowned and looked around, sighing, he took his gun back out of it's holster.

"I'm going to shoot off a couple of bullets into the sky, and you are going to knock me unconscious." Sousa said this as if he were prepping a grocery list, which caused Peggy to raise an eyebrow at him. "Come on Carter, you know this is the only way to do this so you can escape and my ass won't get arrested for aiding a fugitive. I'm no good to you locked up. "

"No good to me?" Peggy frowned, but walked over to him none the less, deciding where and how to hit him so she didn't cause too much damage.

"Of course. How can I help you out if I'm in lock up? It just isn't practical." Sousa smiled at her for the first time that day. "Don't die out there Carter. You have a lot of explaining to do." 

"Sous...Daniel, if I wasn't wearing lipstick right now I would kiss you on the cheek." Sousa rolled his eyes and Peggy felt another smile coming. "See you later?"

"See you later...Peggy." And in a flash, two shots were fired from Sousa's gun, Peggy knocked him out and ran, and when Thompson and his men finally found the alcove they had been in, the only thing he found was an unconscious Sousa. 

Later on, after hours of 'searching' for Peggy, Sousa was walking home and saw the diner Peggy had told him about once. He shrugged and walked inside, sitting at the counter. To his surprise, Angie Martinelli walked over to him and set a cup, then poured coffee into it, before handing him a menu and smiling at him. 

"Hey there Mr. Agent Man." Martinelli's eyes were bright and a bit teasing, all the anger and resentment he was so sure she had felt for him was not present. 

"Hello Ms. Martinelli." Sousa greeted. Martinelli rolled her eyes. 

"Come on, call me Angie. Any friend of Peggy's is a friend of mine. Thank you by the way, for getting me out of there." Earlier that night Sousa had marched (Well, limp marched.) into the interrogation room where Thompson had been interrogating her and told him to back off, she was useless. Martinelli had glared at him earlier, taking her purse and smacking him in the chest with it as she walked out. 

"No problem. I'm sorry for calling you useless. I didn't mea..." 

"Oh I know. Peggy told me you were a good guy, and I trust her. Even with all this weird stuff going on." Another diner was calling her over, but before leaving she added "Open up the menu, find something you like. I can't comp the whole thing but the coffee is on me. Have as much as you like. In fact I'd like to chat with you. Peggy said you were alright, and I agree. I have a feeling we'll be friends." 

"You spoke to her then?" 

"Yeah, a couple hours ago on the phone. She's fine." Not waiting for a reply, Martinelli walked off to deal with the other diner and Sousa turned back to the menu in front of him. When he did, a small envelope with his name on it. He picked it up, opened it, and took out a note that appeared to be from Peggy.

_Dear Sousa,_

_I know what you might be thinking. No, I didn't go back to the hotel. Believe it or not this note was prewritten. I knew...well, suspected, that one day it would be necessary. And while I couldn't be entirely sure, I had a feeling I could convince you of the truth of the matter. I left the note hidden in Angie Martinelli's room. I will probably call from a safe distance and have her bring it to you, that is, unless...but the darker possibility is not going to happen, I won't let it._

_Sousa, I know you will have so many questions and rightly so. I know you probably feel hurt, and are wondering if I was only nice to you to gain you as an ally and nothing more in this crazy happening. That is not true. Yes, having you as an ally is nice, but I wasn't acting as such just for that. For one thing, I was being a decent human being, unlike Thompson and the rest. For another, I am genuinely fond of you Sousa. You have a strong moral compass and you didn't let your experience in the war ruin you or your personality. You are a good man and a good agent, and I hope that someday, you and I will be able to sit down and chat, not on the run, and get to know each other better. I'm probably on the run, if you're reading this, but someday, you and me, maybe a nice coffee shop. Or dinner. I haven't decided yet. Take care Sousa._

_Sincerely,_

_Peggy Carter_

_P.S. Angie Martinelli is a good person as well, and I would highly advise striking up a friendship with her._

Sousa folded the note back up, stuck it in the envelope, and put the envelope in a coat pocket. Martinelli returned and gave him another smile. 

"So, did  you pick something out Mr. Agent Man?" she had her pen and pad poised, eying him. 

" Yeah, uh... the Night Owl Special looks rather appetizing. I think I'll take that. And when you have the time I'd love to...talk." Martinelli's smile got wider and she nodded. 

"Sounds good. You and I will be good friends Mr. Agent Man, I know it." 

Yes, he believed they would be as well.


	2. Steve, It's Mrs. Peggy Carter-Sousa Now.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On Steve's first visit he asks her how her life went, and who, if anyone, she spent it with, even though he read her file, he knew very well. 
> 
> "Steve, let me tell you about Daniel Sousa..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is a prompt from an Anon on Tumblr: "...could you maybe do a fic on your take of how Steve finds out/his reaction to learning that Peggy married Daniel?"

* * *

 

Steve can't help but wonder about her life, how could he not? He'd missed out on 70 years of it, and now Peggy was in her 90's. Upon opening her file and not seeing the red "DECEASED" stamp across the front, a big relief, Steve read her file front to back. As a founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., her file was rather extensive, despite the several pages that had been blacked out, there was a fair amount of information to be had about her. 

When he got to the section about her family and closest relations, he couldn't help, really he couldn't, feeling a pang of jealousy and a bit more anger over his situation when he saw that the papers were fairly extensive as well. Trying not to be too obvious about it, although he was alone in the room, he quickly glanced to see whose name was next to "Spouse/Significant Other". Daniel Sousa, former SSR, one of the first agents hired on to S.H.I.E.L.D., WWII veteran and a decorated one at that. Throwing caution and dignity to the wind, he was quick to find Sousa's file and read through it, feeling that pang of jealousy still ebbing through his system, unable to squelch it down. Sousa was a good soldier, with a record Steve couldn't help but admire and approve of. When he noted, with a fair amount of curiosity, that Sousa had been one of the men he'd saved that day behind enemy lines, he also felt a grand sense of irony. So he had saved Peggy Carter, the once love of his life's future husband. Despite saving him though, Steve also noted that Sousa had been removed from the field when an injury crippled one of his legs. He must have been something special to attract Peggy to the point of marrying him, for she was a rightfully choosey person and he couldn't imagine her ever marrying anyone she didn't truly love and want to marry. Just like he thought they might have some day.

There was another pang of jealousy. 

He flipped back to the front of the file to see the photo attached to the folder. Dark hair, brown eyes, strong jaw. Handsome.

Yep, jealous. He knew on some level he shouldn't be, that he didn't have the right to be mad at her or this Sousa guy for being together, but the part of him that was still trying to catch up on all the things that had changed in the world was still reeling. 

After reading the rest of Peggy's file, learning about her daughter and son and grandchildren, her role in S.H.I.E.L.D., and her life, then reading the files on his other friends, trying to push down the sadness every time he read "DECEASED", he put the files away and left the building. Before he knew what happened, he was outside the hospital that the file had stated Peggy was currently in. He went up to the information desk and asked about Peggy Carter. 

"We have a Peggy Carter-Sousa." the nurse commented, looking intently at the screen. "Is that her?"

"Ah, yes, yes it is ma'am, which room is she in?" The nurse leaned back in her chair and looked at him as if she was studying him, and she probably was. 

"What is your relation with Mrs. Carter Sousa?" the nurse asked, still eying him critically. 

"I'm an...old friend of hers." Steve fought the urge to wince at the phrase 'old friend'. If only this young lady knew. 

"Name?" At Steve's puzzled look, the nurse's expression changed to one of sympathy and a tiny bit of pity. "She has a list of people who are permitted to see her. Apparently she is an important person in the government or something like that. The list is limited to her family and very close friends. It's a security issue I think. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound snappish." She rubbed her temples with her hands and sighed. "It's been a long shift." 

"It's fine. I understand. My name is Steve Rogers. I don't know if I'm on the list or not. I've been...out of town for a long time." the nurse, Lilly, he noted from her name tag, looked back at the screen and smiled. 

"You are on the list Mr. Rogers. Go ahead. Room 210." Steve was surprised, although he figured that Fury might have had his name added, and tried not to run to the room she was in. 

He knocked on the door, and heard footsteps falling, someone coming to the door. A young woman opened it and Steve was almost knocked off his feet. She looked exactly like Peggy, except there was something different, Peggy's facial features and general build, but the eyes were different. Must be Sousa's eyes. 

"You must be Steve Rogers." Yet another surprise that day. The young woman laughed at the shocked expression on his face an ussured him inside the room before closing the door again. "I'm Marla. Peggy's granddaughter. Well, one of them. Sharon is my twin, although we don't look much alike. She's taller. Blonde hair. I inherited my grandma's looks. Sharon apparently inherited the looks of our great grandma on our dad's side. She's told us all about you. Come, come! Hey, grandma! Look who's here!" 

He would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised at seeing how she looked now, although it was a bit silly. Once again, 70 years had passed, she wouldn't look the same as she did the last time he saw her. But at the same time...yes, this was Peggy. This was his Peggy. 

Although not his Peggy anymore, not really. 

"Hello Peggy." 

"It's you. It's really you." Her voice was hoarse, but still her voice, and her eyes were sparkling. 

"I'll leave you two to catch up. See you tomorrow grandma!" Marla bent down over her grandma and kissed her on the forehead. "It was nice to meet you Captain." Marla smiled at Steve as she walked by and left the room. 

"So, you got ...busy."  Peggy laughed and Steve smiled, a genuine, real smile for the first time in days. 

"Where did you hear that term?" 

"Bucky." Peggy rolled her eyes. 

"Oh of course." 

"So... Mrs. Carter-Sousa?" His questioning tone asked the question he was too shy to ask himself, and Peggy's smile widened. 

"Oh Steve, let me tell you all about Daniel..." 

 

The End. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Keep the prompts coming!


	3. I Told You So

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I've set you up on a date with a really nice guy." 
> 
> "I...you did what?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is a prompt from Tumblr user sovsa! "How about Angie trying to set Peggy up with "this great guy she knows" - who turns out to be Sousa?"

* * *

 

* * *

 

"Hey English!" Angie called out as she pounded her fist on Peggy's door. 

Peggy sighed and put her book down, psyching herself up for the hurricane that was her friend Angie Martinelli. 

"Hello Angie, how are you today?" Peggy greeted when she answered the door. Angie was beaming. This could not be good...for her. 

"Hey English, my day's been great. Thanks. I have some exciting news! For you!" 

"Oh? And what news is that?" 

"I've set you up on a date with a really nice guy." Angie pushed past Peggy, who had frozen where she was standing.

"I...you did what?" Peggy asked, turning to see Angie sitting on her couch. 

"I. Set. You. Up. On. A . Date. With. A. Really. Nice. Guy." Angie accentuated, smirking when Peggy rolled her eyes. 

"Angie, I don't think..." 

"Angie, I don't think this is a good idea. You know I don't go out much and my job has me working all hours. It just wouldn't do." Angie mimicked, in a surprisingly good imitation of Peggy's accent. 

"Alright, what's his name?" Peggy asked, resigning herself to her fate. If the date was awful she would just leave. She knew Angie was only doing this because she was worried about her and wanted to see her have some more fun. She knew that Peggy's family was small and her parents were long dead. She just wanted her to have more people around her. 

"Not tellin'." Angie replied, smirk still in place, picking up a book from the table in front of her. "Trust me though, he's such a sweetheart. He started coming into the diner awhile back and is just the best. He tips well and doesn't treat me like a servant girl. He's polite and always asks me how my shift is going. Offered to rough up a few jerks for me when he saw some customers being rude." Angie continued to peruse the book, her gum smacking along to the hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen. "So he's like you, but he's a he and not a she." 

"You sound rather fond of him yourself Angie, why are you not going on a date with him?" Peggy asked, leaning back on the couch and looking at her friend. 

"Ah Peggy, that's sweet but uh...the last guy I dated went overseas and didn't come back. We were going to get married. Some wounds just don't heal that fast." Peggy noticed the air shift in the room and her friend's expression dropping and wished she could turn back time and take it back. But it was only for a few seconds, then her friend's usual chipper manner was shining once more. 

"Angie, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..." 

"I know you didn't English. It's fine." Angie sprung up, handed Peggy the book she'd been fake reading, and started for the door. " He was just as stubborn so you know. His work keeps him busy too. Came up with similar excuses. But I wore him down. Just like I did you." She reached for the door, and, hand still on the knob, turned towards Peggy, grinning. "Friday night,  8 pm, at that Keen's Steakhouse on 72 West 36 Street. Be there or be  square." With that, she winked and walked out of the apartment. 

....

As Friday grew closer, Peggy was startled by how nervous she was. She tapped her pen nervously on her desk, the redwood it was made of, and the polish that finished it off, creating a very loud sound. She heard knocking at her door and her head shot towards the sound, seeing Sousa leaning against the door jam, an expression of annoyance and curiosity on his face.

"You okay there Carter? I can hear the tapping from my office." Peggy rolled her eyes and earned a smile from her friend. Sousa's office at their new headquarters was right across the hall from hers, but the walls were thick and so were the doors. When she agreed to start S.H.I.E.L.D. with Stark and Philips, she snagged up Sousa from the ashes of the SSR before they had time to cool. She knew that Stark and Philips talked behind her back about how fast she'd suggested Sousa and that it was a little bit suspicious, beyond him being 'the best agent for the job' as she had told them. Sure, she was fond of Sousa, but she really did consider Sousa to be one of the best agents. And he proved his moral compass, metal, and loyalty to the good guys in the world during the whole Stark affair. 

Those were the only reasons.

Really. 

"Carter?" Peggy jumped a bit in her chair, then started again when she saw that Sousa was now sitting in the chair across from her, his face now showing concern. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." Peggy replied, plastering a smile on her face she was sure he could tell was fake. From the expression on his face she was right. "I'm nervous." Sousa's expression lightened but the concern didn't go away. 

" Oh really? The infamous Peggy Carter is nervous about something? Do tell." 

"It's silly." Peggy began, finally setting down the pen and picking up the mug of coffee Sousa had kindly brought her earlier. She noticed he wasn't moving and decided to fess up. "A friend of mine has set me up on...a date with someone. She didn't tell me much other than he is very kind and she thinks we'd be perfect for each other. And I guess I'm just nervous about the date because I don't really know how to go on a date. I didn't really date as a girl, and when I got older I enrolled, and..." the words left unsaid, about Steve and that portion of her life, while unsaid, still brought tension into the room. 

"If you're so nervous, why don't you just ask her to ask him to postpone?" 

"I can't. I mean...she's right. I don't really have a life out of work and it wouldn't kill me to get out." Sousa smiled at her and she smiled back. "What about you, what are you doing this weekend?" 

"Well, believe it or not, a friend of mine set me up too. The last time I went on a date I had full use of both my legs." Sousa laughed and Peggy chuckled, watching Sousa slowly get up from his chair and walk towards the door. "Good luck Carter, I'm sure you'll be great. He'd be a fool not to like you." 

"And she'd be a fool not to like you too." Peggy replied, before quickly amending "I mean, if it is a she. If not, he'd be a fool. We've never really talked about that..." Sousa laughed as he walked away.

"She Carter, it's a she." 

Peggy opened up the file in front of her and tried to get back to work, trying to ignore the nagging feeling of jealousy that she felt when Sousa said he had a date, and how the feeling lingered. 

She hired him only because he was a good agent and a good friend. That was the only reason. The. Only. Reason. 

....

"You look gorgeous English. He won't know what hit him." Angie was beaming again, and Peggy never felt more nervous. She looked at herself once more in the mirror and straightened out the  necklace resting around her neck, and adjusted the straps of the red dress she was wearing. Her hair was down in waves and Angie was letting her borrow a  silver barrette shaped like a rose. She wore her usual lipstick and had on high heels. For all intents and purposes she was date ready. So why did she feel so nervous? 

"Angie, I don't think that this is a good idea..." she turned towards her friend who was shaking her head vigorously. 

"Oh come on English! You need to get out! He's really sweet I promise. You'll love him."

"How do you know that?"

"I ...just do." Angie vollied with a tone of finality that broke no argument. She snagged Peggy's hand purse from the dresser and handed it to her, before turning her towards the door and pushing. "You'll do great. You'll love him. It'll be a wonderful happy ending. Make sure I'm your maid of honor and we're even. Now scram! I'll lock up." 

....

As soon as she saw him, her breath caught in her throat, and she clenched her purse tight. No, it couldn't be. 

He was sitting at a table near the back of the restaurant, looking through a menu and trying not to seem nervous. His crutch was resting on the wall next to the table, and his leg was twitching. 

When did Sousa start going to the diner? How did he make that decision to one day walk into that diner and strike up a friendship with Angie? 

Oh right, because of her. 

_"Well, there's this one diner close to my place that is nice. Good people, good food. The coffee is always fresh and the pie is wonderful."_

_Sousa had smiled at her and leaned back against his chair. She had brought him lunch and they were in his office, trading stories. He'd asked her where she was when she wasn't at the office, on a mission, or at her apartment, and she tossed a pen at him for his cheekiness._

_"Sounds nice."_

_"It is."_

She felt her feet and legs moving before her brain caught up, and before she knew it, she was ten feet away from the table. Why was she so nervous? 

"It seems we have the same friends." She joked. Sousa started in his seat, and the look on his face, she was sure, matched her own when she saw him. 

"Carter." His face was flushed and he looked nervous, and for the first time since Angie told her about this set up, Peggy didn't feel so nervous. She smiled. 

"Well I think you should go with Peggy right now Daniel, considering we are on a date." Peggy smiled and sat down across from him, like she had done so many times at the office, like he had done as well. They'd been in this position so many times before, so why was this any different? 

Because this time there was no pretense. No hiding the real reason they essentially lived in each other's offices. No flustered excuses as to why they couldn't go out for drinks or dinner. 

"So..." 

"So..."

"Well then, do you think...do you think she knew we know each other?" Daniel, she should start referring to him as Daniel. 

"Somehow I do. I don't know how, but she did." The waiter came along and took her drink order, and then they were alone once again. "So," Peggy began, taking in Daniel and all his date night glory. He looked sharp in a navy blue suit and black tie, his hair was slicked back and he even had a boutonniere. A rose. Of course. Peggy's hand went up involuntarily to the barrette in her hair and she fought the urge to laugh. Angie probably told him to wear the rose on his suit as well. " tell me a little more about yourself Daniel. Tell me something that isn't on file." 

"Well... when I was in high school I played soccer."

"Really? That must have been fun." Peggy's voice held no trace of sarcasm, her eyes were smiling, and she couldn't help but relish in the feeling of peace and happiness that washed over her as he continued to talk. 

A year later, while having a fitting for her wedding dress, Angie lounging on a settee nearby, Peggy told her, for the millionth time in the last few months, not to say 'I told you so.'.

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Send me prompts!


	4. A New Addition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She didn't know why she was so nervous. She shouldn't be this nervous. She just had to get it over with, it wasn't THAT big of a deal right? She just had to open her mouth and say "Daniel, I'm pregnant." .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This prompt is from mutents. "Could you maybe do a bit on peggy telling daniel that she's pregnant and his reaction?". Here it is!

* * *

 

Peggy Carter (Carter-Sousa in civilian life.) walked out of the med bay shaken. She had had a suspicion that her recent bout of vomiting and queasiness hadn't been due to the flu that was going around the agency, and the recent visit proved as much. She swore the doctor to secrecy and told him he'd be fired if he said anything, a bit rash but she was nervous. 

She walked back to her office, pausing at the door and turning to look into the office across from hers. The door was open and she could see him on the phone, quickly jotting down notes on the conversation he was having, ever the professional. His jacket was off, the top few buttons of his shirt undone, but his waistcoat was still on and he compromised with rolling up his sleeves. They had had issues with the cooling system Stark had put into the building, and he was currently in the basement working on it. She spent a minute more just admiring her view, especially when she would catch a sight of the chain around his neck. When they had gotten married they agreed to not wear their rings on their fingers. Too many what-ifs, should one of them be captured by an enemy. At least if the ring was on a necklace it wouldn't be noticed at first. At least if the ring was on a necklace, there was less of a chance of one being used to get to the other.

And now they had another being to be used against them. If only she knew how to tell him.

"You okay there Carter?" Peggy started and turned to see Colonel Philips standing next to her in the hallway. Daniel was off the phone and looking at the two of them, smiling. 

"I'm fine sir. What brings you to the home office?" Peggy took one last look at her husband, who winked at her, causing her to roll her eyes, before turning into her office and being followed by Philips. 

"Oh, just checking in on things. I see the cooling system is down again. Stark workin' on that?"

"Yes he is. 'It works Peggy I swear. I don't know why this keeps happening.' he says. But every other week..." Philips laughed and sat down across from her at the desk. 

"Sounds like Stark. How have you been doing Carter?" 

"Oh I've been wonderful actually. Had a couple of close calls with a couple of agents the other day but it got sorted out." 

"They live?"

"Yes they did. We got lucky." 

"You're doing good Carter. This place is impressive and you are running it well. I'm proud to be working with you again." Philips extended a hand over the desk and Peggy extended her own, they  shook hands and he got up from his seat, smiling down at her. 

"Thank you sir." 

"Of course. And Carter..." Philips turned his head and looked towards the open door at Daniel's now closed office door. "I like him. You chose well." Peggy flushed, causing Philips to laugh. 

"Thank you again sir." 

"See you around Carter." 

"See you around sir." 

Peggy worked in silence for awhile before throwing her pen down in frustration. She had to tell him. She couldn't keep this from him, that wasn't right, or fair. It wasn't just her life anymore, it was his as well. She didn't know why she was so nervous. She shouldn't be this nervous. She just had to get it over with, it wasn't THAT big of a deal right? She just had to open her mouth and say "Daniel, I'm pregnant." 

"You're what?" Peggy jumped in her chair, hitting her knee against the top of the desk and making a face to deal with the pain. Had she seriously said that out loud? She looked up and saw her husband standing across from her, holding two coffee mugs in his hand, looking surprised and puzzled. 

"I... I'm pregnant. I got it confirmed today. It turns out all my vomiting and feeling off wasn't the flu after all." Daniel slowly put the two mugs down on the desk before collapsing into the chair behind him, his expression one of pure shock. 

"I...we were being so careful..." 

"Yes, well, things happen Daniel. Birth control isn't perfect even at it's best these days. I doubt it will ever be one hundred percent mastered." Peggy replied, reaching across to grab a mug. Daniel's hands shot forward and grabbed both the mugs, keeping them out of reach. "Why...?" 

"I read a new research study saying that caffeine levels in coffee aren't good for pregnant women. No more caffeinated  coffee for you, at least until the baby comes."

"Why in god's name were you reading an article about the affects of caffeine levels on pregnant women to begin with?" Peggy asked, pouting. Daniel rolled his eyes. 

"I was visiting Angie at her office and she practically shoved the article in my face when she entered the room. Well, she actually did it because she was mad because she can't drink coffee anymore either because of the twins being on their way, but I read it none the less." Peggy could just picture Angie in her pregnancy clothes, fuming over the loss of coffee and making Daniel sit through it. Angie's boyfriend was currently on a business trip in Tulsa and either she or Daniel would go and visit her. As it was, having Angie work at the front office for S.H.I.E.L.D. had worked out beautifully. She'd received the truth about Peggy's job and the explanations behind all the weird happenings in 1946 rather well, much to Peggy's surprise and relief. Now she was working for Peggy and living in a much nicer apartment than she had been. Things had worked out for the best. 

"Well ...wait... so you aren't...?" Peggy couldn't find the right words to express her initial hesitation without insulting him in some way. Daniel's eyebrows shot up and she winced. Her face must have given it away. 

"Not what? Mad? Peggy, why would I be mad that you're pregnant? This is wonderful news. If I had the ability I'd pick you up and swing you around in circles." 

"It's so dangerous though. This child's life won't be easy. We might even have to resign from our jobs here at one point to protect them and ..."

"Then we'll resign." Daniel said the words as if they were so obvious, and Peggy guessed in some way they were. Daniel loved his job though, and she loved hers. 

"You make it sound so simple. You love this job. I couldn't deal with making you leave something you love so much." Daniel, having gotten up, gone around the desk, and leaned against it next to her, took both her hands in his and brought them closer to him.

"Peggy..." 

"And it just... this happened so fast, and we haven't even began to talk about starting a family yet. And this would derail so many of your plans for the future and..." Peggy was cut off by her husband leaning down and kissing her, and she relaxed for the first time since this conversation began. She sighed into the kiss and enjoyed it before he pulled away, but not too far away, for which she was grateful. 

"Peggy, I may love this job, and I may have plans for the future, but nothing, and I mean nothing, is more important to me than you and our child. I love nothing else in this universe more than you and our child. If we have to resign for the better of our son or daughter, then we will, screw my plans. You and the kid come first, always." Peggy hated herself for the tears that were welling up in her eyes and the smile on her face and the warmth she felt blossoming in her chest at his words. She never believed she could feel so...mushy. Not after their first date, first kiss, first...everything. She loved him, and she probably felt a similar feeling of ...mushiness when they had gotten married, but this was something new. If pressed, she'd lie and say it was pregnancy hormones. 

"I feel the same way about you Daniel." she replied. Daniel smiled and kissed her one more time, before moving to get up, and being stopped by her hands holding onto his. "What say you close that door and the blinds, we retreat the couch, and have a nice little break from all the hubbub? Enjoy some time alone and think of baby names?" 

"Sounds good to me Carter." Daniel said, heading towards the door to close and lock it. 

"That's Carter-Sousa to you mister and don't you forget it. I'll have our child tackle you for your cheek when he or she is old enough." Peggy jibed as she plopped herself down on the couch on the wall to the left of her desk. 

"Well sorry Mrs. Carter-Sousa. Please don't sick our future child on me." He sat down next to her, put an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her close. Peggy leaned against him, putting her head on his shoulder, and smiling. 

"No promises."

Daniel laughed.

 

The End.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Keep the prompts coming!


	5. Five Times They Just Grinned And Bared It And One Time They Didn't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The five times Carter and Sousa were spoken down to and just took it, and the one time they didn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this is going to fill two prompts, one from lasergirl "Five times Peggy and Sousa were talked down too and the one time they each couldn't take it." and EJ "The first time Peggy is confronted with Sousa's prosthetic leg.". Hope you enjoy it! :)

* * *

 

**First Time.**

Sousa couldn't figure out what he had grown to despise more; the pitying looks and 'Oh that poor dear's or the ableist comments. In some ways, he hated the former more, the people were trying to be nice and sympathetic, and he was grateful, sure, but after awhile it was all they saw and it became impossible to deal with. He'd get offered cuts in lines, the best seats near the aisles in planes and theaters, and rides too and from places. It was nice at first but then...after about six months, he grew to hate it. The people who did these things didn't see him as a war hero. They didn't see him as the man who lied to the enemy and got captured and tortured so that his squad could sneak off to safety. They didn't see the man who ran, after seeing the look on his friend's face in the field, and pushed him to safety, getting one of his legs practically demolished, and coming back from the war with a prosthetic. Hell, they didn't even see him as one of the men Captain America freed from captivity, although to be fair, he didn't tell many people about that, and the only way anyone would know is if they read his file, which was confidential. 

No, they saw him as crippled. Disabled. Weak. Needing their help because how could he not? He couldn't possibly get by on his own right? 

At least when people were shouting or just speaking ableist slurs they were, in a way, being honest with him. They were assholes, but they were honest assholes. And his command leader always told him that people who said stuff like that to crippled people were just cowards who didn't know how to deal with someone who had a disability, and rather than try to understand, they were dicks. At least they were honest about their dislike and belief of his situation. It was a messed up way of viewing the world, but he had come home a messed up man. In a weird way it fit.

His army record and personal ties landed him a job with the S.S.R., news that he wasn't entirely sure how he felt about. On one hand, he was grateful to just have a job, especially with the economy still struggling to get back up to speed, but on the other, he wondered why the S.S.R. would take him on to begin with. They understood he had a prosthetic leg right? That in a manhunt, if it came down to chasing someone down an alley, the best he could to was a quick limping? But his record was commendable and he was wanted, and he wasn't about to turn down the job when he needed the money, so off he went. 

It didn't happen his first week at the office, to which he was surprised, these guys had more restraint than most, he'd give them that. It happened the second week. Krzeminski had been chastised the day before by his mother-in-law for being an ass to a wounded veteran while they were at lunch, and instead of taking it as a lesson learned and growing up a little, he had, of course, had the opposite reaction. Everyone was tense after the war, but Krzeminski, as his mom would often phrase it, really took the cake. Trained as a soldier, he never actually saw action, as his squad had never been called in. He was relegated to a desk job at a Navy base in San Diego, and was bitter that he never got the chance to prove himself. He was a good agent, no one doubted or challenged that, but he was rough around the edges and disrespectful, and that was a problem. He'd been regaling the other guys with the story from the previous day, and, like a sixth sense, Sousa felt the air shift, and he knew what was coming. He'd been minding his own business (As usual.), working on some files for a case he'd been put on, when he heard the guy stop talking suddenly,  and he just _knew_.

"Hey, new guy!" Here we go. "Pinocchio! Where's Geppetto and the Blue Fairy? Isn't it time to make you a real boy?" And there it was. Sousa knew better than to expect their boss to reprimand him, he'd dealt with this before, and sure enough, when he looked over at them, his boss was laughing with the rest of them.

Alright, so it would be _that_ type of relationship then. Got it. 

**Second Time.**

Carter is still new at the office, and much like Sousa, she was happy to just have a job. On the other hand, a decorated agent such as herself would, under other circumstances, be given a cushy job at a nice command central with underlings and people at her beck and call to command and manage. 

Those other circumstances were, of course, being a man. But as it was, Carter did not have that advantage.

But a job is a job, so she started working for the S.S.R. at the New York office, swallowing her pride, and dealing with her all male colleagues the best she could. They weren't all bad she supposed, Thompson was an inconsiderate ass, but he was a good agent she supposed, and her superior officer had some good qualities when the others weren't around. The man who sat at the desk in front of hers, Sousa, was always a kind person, never  snickering at her, always asking how she was, and treating her with actual respect.

But the comments from the others, oh the comments could be trying.

"Hey there sweetheart, mind getting us some coffee?"

"Yo, Carter, we need lunch, go to the place across the street."

"You're good at typin', right honey? Type this report up for me."

"Yo, sugar, be a good girl and leave the real work to the real agents, yeah?"

All in the same damn day. Every day. She came to the office knowing things wouldn't be great and that she wouldn't get the same respect she used to, but this was a bit ridiculous. None of these men had any manners, and their misogynist drawl made her want to break their arms. 

But she pushed on. She first encountered the true breadth of their disrespect and misogyny, it was her second day and she had been figuring out the filing system they had to find a file on a case. A voice behind her made her start, and she turned to see  Thompson at the door, grinning. 

"Hey there sweetheart, I..." 

"Agent." 

"Scuse me?" 

"It's Agent. Agent Carter to you Thompson, not 'sweetheart'. I'm not your..." 

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Make us some coffee yeah? We have a meeting." Before she could open her mouth to rebuke him for his attitude, he was gone. So this was the game they wanted to play. Alright then, she knew who was going to 'accidentally' get salt in their coffee today and every day after. Why she hadn't snapped at him more, told him to show her some respect, point out, as she had read his file, she was his superior in terms of ranks, was beyond her. She supposed part of it was saving her ass as far as this job went. The post-war world had once again become extremely anti-women in the workforce, and she didn't want to risk the job she did have. 

What a world she lived in now. 

**Third Time.**

It was a double whammy this time around. Both Carter and Sousa had been forestalled during a case, being told they couldn't handle it and what it would entail, despite the fact that they were both more than capable. 

By then, Sousa had been working at the office for almost a year and Carter, nine months. Both had impeccable work records, had proven they were clever and showed as much. They had been perfect for this case, and yet...

"I'm sorry sir, could you clarify that statement? Why are we not capable of handling this case?" 

"Carter..." Sousa's tone was slightly warning, and while Carter knew he meant well and actually cared about her and not 'what was proper', she ignored him. 

"Sir?" she said, staring down at Dooley, who was sitting at his desk. To her credit, Sousa noticed that the 'Sir', said with a forceful tone, managed to get a slight flinch out of the man, but it was a lost cause. 

"You just aren't fit for the case Carter, end of discussion." 

"No, no sir, see that is not the 'end of the discussion' as you put it because you didn't actually answer my question. Saying we are 'just not fit' for the case is not an explanation, it's an avoidance tactic, one I don't appreciate."

"Carter..." Dooley's tone was annoyance mixed with frustration, a bad combination as Sousa had learned. 

"Sir." Carter, annoyed and rightfully so, squaring off her shoulders. 

"Carter I'm warning you..." 

"Warning me for what sir? Demanding to actually be treated with some respect in this office? For once in the nine months since I've been here? Demanding a real explanation for myself and for Agent Sousa, who is more than capable if you ask me, to handle any case that's thrown his way? What am I being warned for sir?" Carter's arms were crossed and if looks could kill, Sousa was sure Dooley would be six feet under. 

"Carter, get out of my  office." Dooley snapped.

"No, not until you answer my very simple question sir. It's not that difficult. Just give me a reason why." 

"You're a dame and he's a crip!" Dooley finally shouted. Sousa could hear the clamor outside fall silent, and looked back towards the desk to see Dooley now standing as well, furious. "You can't comprehend the issues and information and Sousa here can't do shit to help beyond pathetically limping behind everyone. You're both useless." 

"Then why..." 

"Out! OUT OF MY OFFICE!" Carter was seething now, and, in an act of rebellion, took Dooley's full coffee mug and splashed it on him, before slamming it on the desk and storming out. Sousa was quick to get up and follow. 

Carter sent in a complaint to the home office and in return, Carter was suspended for a week. When he asked her later why she'd snapped and thrown the coffee, for he'd seen her handle it before without doing so, she admitted that it was Dooley's crack at Sousa himself that set her off. He was oddly touched. 

 

**Fourth Time.**

He hadn't even been at the office this time around. He was just walking down the street from the diner he ate at sometime to the apartment building he lived in. The men were drunk, and the women with them were as well. His finely tuned sixth sense for trouble was going off like a fire alarm, and he mentally prepared himself for the onslaught of comments, possible pushing, and laughing at him because oh hey look, there's the crip. 

To his surprise, it was the women who started it this time, it was usually the men if both were present. One girl shouted at him, asking where they could find a prostitute, and when he replied that he didn't know, she laughed and said "Of course you do buddy, how else you gonna get laid?" That had made the entire group burst into laughter, and the girl looked proud of herself. She could not have been more than fifteen or sixteen, obviously drinking too much booze, thinking she could handle it when she obviously couldn't. Just a kid, a kid with zero respect for what had gone on when she was younger. The people lost during the war, and the repercussions of the war later on. He tried to ignore her and the others and continued on down the street, but then he felt something hard hit him in the back, and he staggered, getting off balance and falling to the pavement in front of him. He heard them laughing loudly and clenched his teeth, shoving the urge to swing his crutch at them down his throat. 

"Yo, crip! My girl asked you a question! How else you get laid except by  a pro? No one else'd take ya! Answer her!" Sousa got back up and started walking again down the street, dodging another item (Beer bottles as he later discovered from the smell lingering on his jacket.) being thrown at him and comments like 'Hey you piece of shit, come back here! We were talkin' to you peg leg!'. 

Not for the first time since he'd come home from the war, he wished that land mine had finished him off. 

**Fifth Time.**

"Stay with me okay Sousa? Stay with me. You can't give up yet, I won't let you." 

Sousa was slipping in and out of consciousness, vaguely aware of Carter's presence, of her propping his head up on her pack and taking a knife out to open his pant leg and shirt to dress his wounds. What had happened? Why was she so frantic and worried? That wasn't like her. It must be bad, oh lord. 

"Carter?" Oh wow his voice just did not sound good. He sounded awful. 

"I'm here Sousa, right here. You can't die on me alright? I'm not going to let you. You were shot, do you remember that? Three times. Twice in your leg and once in the chest. You'll be alright okay? You'll be alright. That Leviathan agent was a lousy shot." She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than him, and he supposed she was. 

"Carter, why are you cutting off my pants? You should at least take me for dinner first..." Sousa joked, Carter, through her surprising tears and worry, rolled her eyes. "That's my prosthetic Carter, it's not like I can feel it..."

"You got shot above the prosthetic and in it. I need to dig out the bullet or you'll get an infection." she said matter of factly. Sousa gave up on persuading her not to, and laid back, trying to ignore the tingle he felt every time she touched him. She got the pant leg off his left leg and he could hear and feel her pause, just for a moment, when she saw the wooden part of his leg, and was unsure how to feel. 

"Don't want me near fireplaces. I'm a hazard." he joked, and heard her take in a breath, before getting to work on prepping the area of his leg that was still flesh, to get the bullet out. 

"This will hurt Sousa, I'm sorry." Carter warned, pulling a small flask out of the other bag she had, ripping off part of the sleeve of her blouse and dosing it with what smelled like scotch. 

"It's fine Carter I've had wo...holy shit!" He forgot how much that stung, alcohol on a bad wound. It was fleeting but powerful, a searing pain he will never forget. 

"Sorry." Carter muttered. 

"It's fine." Sousa tried to relax but it was difficult, what with the multiple gunshot wounds and the woman he had a crush (Who was he kidding, he was in love with her. Even after he realized she was the blond in the photos. That's what made the betrayal, as it felt at the time, hurt the most. Of course he'd fall for a traitor.) on, currently digging a bullet out of his leg. 

"Wood and metal right?" Carter said after a few minutes. Sousa was clenching his teeth, the pain, despite her having him down half of what was in the flash, still high. 

"What?"

"The leg, the prosthetic. It's a wood and metal combination right?" What was she doing? Trying to distract him? Hell of a topic.

"Yeah it is. One of the newer models I was told. Didn't do much to my figure though. Got one leg not matchin' up with the other. Kind of annoying. I need to watch my figure, this don't come easily." He heard Carter laugh and couldn't help but smile himself. He'd gotten good at laughing at himself. 

"When this is all through, I'll talk to Stark. I believe he's been working on a new type of prosthesis. Longer lasting. Less...flammable." 

"I don't know how receptive Stark'll be towards me considering I was one of the people on his manhunt. And I came close to shooting you. Pretty sure I released a statement calling him a coward and a miserable bastard too." He heard Carter go 'aha!' and assumed she found the bullet. Sure enough, she started cleaning the area once again and he had a reprieve while she prepped a needle and thread to sew him up. 

"Eh, I'm pretty sure everyone has that opinion of him. To him it's a compliment I believe. Stark is an odd sort of fellow. I may be irreversibly pissed off with that man but deep down he's good. He'll give you a new leg. This one must be a pain in the ass to deal with. Puddles, the wood swelling, creaking when it rains..."

"Oh ho ho, look who got a sense of humor about the leg all of a sudden?" He'd laid back down but he could practically feel her rolling her eyes once more. "How did we get here Carter?"

"Well, I convinced you of the truth of the situation with Stark, you let me escape, then I got you into trouble because the Leviathans saw us talking and correctly assumed they could use you to get to me. They kidnapped you outside the office, brought you here, and..."

"No, no, I mean how did we manage to land ourselves jobs at a place where we aren't respected after all we've done to deserve better? Neither of us deserve the constant crap we get and yet we get it and we take it because we have no other choice."

"Well it sounds like you answered your own question there Sousa." Carter tore off a sleeve from her blouse and used it to bandage his leg, before taking off the other sleeve and ripping it up to clean his other bullet wound.  They stayed silent for awhile after that, Carter working on stitching up his wounds and making him stable, and Sousa staring at the ceiling of the room they were trapped in in the warehouse where the whole incident had come to  a screeching hault. He was sure the others would come eventually, when Thompson would somehow figure out the clues and the evidence lying before him and rally the troops to come 'get the bad guys and save the day'. For now though, they'd sit (Or in his case, lay.) and wait. Carter was injured too, and the blast from outside when the bomb had gone off, shoved something, a shipping container or another thing equally heavy, against the door, making it impossible for them to get out. 

Thompson and the others came an hour later, much earlier than Sousa thought, and he heard grunting, shifting, the sound of someone shouting to get one of the lifts, and then... 

"What the hell Sousa, you with the woman now? Figures that you'd only be able to get supposed traitor. You're really milking that leg for what it's worth aren't you?" 

Sousa was told by Peggy later, after being rushed to the hospital and cleaned up more that Jarvis and Stark had been there too, and Stark, stunned and fuming, turned and decked Thompson, knocking him to the ground. Jarvis tripped the agent who went to volley for their superior, and gave the other agents a warning look. That made Sousa smile. 

**And the Time They Finally Took No One's  B.S. .**

In the end, the dissolving of the S.S.R. was unanimous. After what had been dubbed the Stark Incident made it to the papers and every government agency heard of how badly it'd been managed by the S.S.R., Dooley was fired and Thompson relegated to a desk man at a post office in Bridgeport, Nebraska. Some of the other agents joined the new agency, built from the ashes of the S.S.R., a secret one working to protect and prevent the evils of the world from getting to the innocent people who didn't deserve to experience them. The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, or S.H.I.E.L.D., was the new, hottest place to be hired. Everyone wanted a job there, but the requirements were strict and not easy to attain. 

Butch Wallace, formerly of the S.S.R., walked into the rotunda of his new workplace feeling smug. He'd passed the tests and had the right qualifications. He was feeling smug. He got in. He got into the hardest agency to get into, beating two hundred other applicants in his division. Notoriously picky, the S.H.I.E.L.D. founders, names known to no one outside the agency, had decided he was the best of the applicants. 

All of which contributed to his surprise when he entered the office of the Director, eager to meet the man behind the infamy, the man he'd chosen as his deputy director, the person funding most of this, and the deputy director's second in command, and saw...

"Carter? Sousa? Stark? What the hell are you three doing here?" his tone was incredulous, surprised, and rude. Carter was leaning on the arm of a couch that Sousa and Stark were sitting on. Stark had a pair of reading glasses on, slid to the tip of his nose, and looking over what appeared to be blueprints. Sousa had a stack of files next to him on the couch and was holding one, looking it over before Wallace had entered. Peggy, sitting on the arm of the couch, held a clipboard in her hand, and was eying Wallace, her face filled with anger and annoyance. "Who let you three in here? No, you know what, at least Stark is loaded and has the weapons. But you two?" Carter was sure that somewhere, deep in the back of Wallace's mind there was a voice saying ' Butch, shut the hell up. Shut up. Stop talking.' but it was too quiet over his loud, obnoxious, outer voice. "Why would S.H.I.E.L.D. need a dame like you Carter? You aren't up for this kind of stuff. And Sousa? Don't even get me started on that kid. What are you, a pity case? Doing papers like a secretary? You..."

"I'd shut up if I were you." Stark cut in, now back to looking at his blueprints. Wallace glared at him. 

"Oh yeah wise guy? And why's that?" 

"Because, Wallace," Peggy began, standing up from her spot and walking over to him, a gleam in her eyes. " you are slowly talking your way into unemployment." 

"What? Why?" 

"Is this guy seriously that dense all the time? How did he pass the tests?" Stark asked Sousa, who'd gone back to his papers as well, but was smirking. 

"Dunno Stark. You'll have to ask Philips."

"Oh hell no, Philips, while having some respect for me, will glare at me and tell me to 'Figure it out Stark, you aren't an idiot.'. You ask him he'd answer you. He likes you."

"Ah, he likes Carter. And because Carter likes me, he likes me. I'm likable by default of being liked by Carter." Sousa countered, taking a pen from the table in front of them and writing something in the margin of one file. 

"Like, like like, or just..." Stark started again, looking between him and Carter. Carter smacked him on the shoulder with her clipboard, earning  an 'Ow, Carter, lighter! Delicate sensibilities here!'. 

"Philips likes Sousa because he sees the potential and existing talent Stark. Don't be an ass." Carter hissed. Sousa smiled at her and she returned the smile. Meanwhile, Wallace stood there, dumbfounded and entirely confused. 

"What...?" 

"Move son, I'd like to get into my office." Wallace jumped at the sound of the gruff voice behind him and turned to see none other than Colonel Chester Philips behind him. He scrambled to move, and Philips moved into the room, nodding at Carter, Stark, and Sousa. "So, this the new guy?" Philips asked, looking rather bored. 

"Yes it is sir, but I'm not sure about him. We might need to send him to training to learn some manners and something about treating his superiors with respect." Carter commented, turning towards Wallace, a broad grin on her face. 

"My what now?" Wallace asked, some realization dawning on him.

"Why son, don't you know you're looking at Deputy Director Margaret Carter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. founder like myself, her second in command, Daniel Sousa, and our other founder and main financial and weapon support, Howard Stark?" 

Sousa was sure that if they'd been in a cartoon, Wallace would have turned bright, bright, red, with steam coming out of his ears and his head growing larger and larger as the seconds ticked by. Revenge was beneath him, really, but if he were to be asked if he and Peggy ever got any revenge on any of their tormentors and bullies, he'd give this moment as an example. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As always, give me prompts!


	6. Daniel Sousa vs. The Howling Commandos (Round One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy Carter wasn't entirely sure what she expected to happen with their encounter. She hadn't thought much of it because she didn't really consider it to be a 'worlds colliding' incident considering Sousa had been in the same war and in the same place, and they were all dealing in covert ops these days. But as soon as she saw the expression on Dum Dum's face when he saw Sousa for the first time, she just knew...this was going to be interesting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: First, I'd like to thank everyone who has been reading/commenting/giving prompts. I'm a tiny bit overwhelmed by all of it. When I started this up I didn't think I'd get such a great response but you guys have been fantastic. 
> 
> This is another prompt from mutents (Thank you! :) ) "I was hoping to get your take on what the Howling Commandos - preferably the ones from the movies instead of The Iron Ceiling - first impression of Daniel is."
> 
> Here it is!

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Peggy Carter wasn't entirely sure what she expected to happen with their encounter. She hadn't thought much of it because she didn't really consider it to be a 'worlds colliding' incident considering Sousa had been in the same war and in the same place, and they were all dealing in covert ops these days. But as soon as she saw the expression on Dum Dum's face when he saw Sousa for the first time, she just knew...this was going to be interesting. 

They had met up with the guys in England, more specifically central London. By now they were no longer S.S.R. agents but S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and she hadn't seen the guys since that incident in Russia almost two years ago. They (Carter and Sousa) had been tracking a spy who had committed a series of assassinations in the United States and their contacts in London reported that the spy had been seen in Piccadilly Circus the day before. So onto a plane she and Sousa went, across the water to Carter's childhood home. 

Carter and Sousa were sitting on the terrace of a hotel eating breakfast and waiting for the arrival of the Howling Commandos to talk to them about tactics. When they had arrived that morning, they had a message waiting for them; the spy/assassin attempted to leave earlier that morning but due to what is unfortunately a common event in the spy world, betrayal and a 'You're on your own' ditch, they were trapped. They'd stolen a car and headed towards Wales and the contacts there were keeping an eye on them. 

"So, what do you think?" Sousa looked up from the newspaper he'd been reading to see Carter staring at him. He blushed and put the paper down before picking up his coffee cup and rebutting. 

"Think of what, Carter?" He was trying not to enjoy the current situation; there they were, away from the office, out of the country for awhile, for once not rushed, at least for the moment, just enjoying the day. Sure they were there to track a killer down and arrest them, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. 

"London. Now that you aren't here on a leeway to go home during the war that is." Carter picked up a piece of toast she had on her plate and took a bite, still looking right at him, waiting for a reaction. 

"It's nice. Still picking itself back up, but what country that was involved in the war isn't? I like it here. It feels...old. Old and wise in ways the United States just isn't. Not yet at least." Carter looked pleased with his answer, smiling and nodding in agreement.

"It is wise in some ways, and in others it isn't. London is like a human being in that respect, gathering knowledge of the world and it's ways and plenty wise, but still has a lot to learn." 

"How poetic Pegg...I mean Carter." While they were sure most of the office knew they were together now, they tried to keep their personal and work lives separate, which meant out in the world they were agents Carter and Sousa, not Peggy and Daniel, and for the most part it was easy but the closer they got and the more their relationship deepened, the more they slipped up in public. Carter reached across the table to take his hand and give it a gentle squeeze, smiling at him. 

"I know. I'm quite the poet as you have been blessed to find out." her reply was light and cheeky, meant to make him feel better, but both of them knew that the moment they'd been enjoying was gone. Sometimes being an agent for a spy agency could really be a pain in the ass. 

"Carter! Long time no see! How ya been? Workin' hard or hardly work...ow!" Carter braced herself for the onslaught that was about to bear down on them. Dum Dum would be the first one to greet them. Loudly. Like that. In public. Carter heard chairs scratch as they were pulled from other tables and the disgruntled complaints of the other patrons. In seconds, the medium sized table that had once been comfortably occupied by her and Sousa alone was now surrounded by the men she'd grown to call her friends during the war. Pinkerton, Dugan, Sawyer, Jones, and Dernier were all crammed around the table with them, Jones and Dugan to Carter's left and Sawyer and Dernier to her right. After stealing the last piece of toast from her plate, Dugan looked up and then over at Sousa and that, that was the moment Carter's heart stopped for a second and she wondered for the first time if bringing Sousa instead of Stark along was a good idea. Not because she didn't think he could handle what this mission entailed because she knew for a fact he could. He more than proved that when he was chasing her down almost two years ago. No, she wondered if it was a good idea to bring the man they didn't know or trust but she knew and trusted implicitly versus the man they knew and trusted and she did not still wholly trust. She questioned whether or not they would behave themselves and treat Sousa with the respect he deserved.  As Carter looked around the table though, she felt her heart sink a bit. They all looked tired and wary of the world at large, no longer getting a jolt of happiness from their wins against the bad guys, but rather ticking off one issue on a long list and discovering two more in it's place. They looked...exactly like they remembered them from the end of the war. The last time she saw them like this was the celebration they'd attended at the end of the war in this very city. They were happy that the war was won, sure, but they, like herself, knew that while the war that everyone was watching was won, the more grueling, long lasting war was still raging. 

They were the same men she remembered from before. The same men she saw in the med bay after Steve came back with them. The war had damaged them, but they tried to keep their heads up. They sucked it up and kept a straight face in the throes of danger because they had to, and it was a duty, Carter was now realizing, that never went away, not really. There was still too much to do.

They were rightfully wary of any newcomer, and Carter was now trying to think of a way to backtrack this decision without potentially hurting the man she loved, or worse, fighting with him and them no longer being together. 

"You look familiar." Okay, that was not what she expected Jones, or any of them for that matter, to say to Sousa. 

"I do? From where?" Sousa countered, leaning back in his chair and looking Jones right in the eyes. He seemed perfectly at ease and Carter wondered if maybe, just maybe, there was another part of Sousa she had yet to discover, to explore. Because in light of who they were surrounded by, even the most strong willed of people would be a little bit intimidated. But Sousa? Sousa barely blinked she realized, when they descended upon them. 

"I thought the same thing, but I just can't place it." Pinkerton added, examining a menu that a waiter had brought to the table. 

"I must have one of those faces." Sousa replied, picking up his briefcase from where it had been next to his chair and opening it on his lap. He took a few files out and set them in the middle of the table, business mode, as Carter noticed, starting to click on. Dugan shook his head and snatched up the files before shoving them all in the pack he kept with him. "What the..."

"No no no. That is for later. Work is for later. Right now, we eat breakfast and catch up with Carter and get to know you. I'm too tired and too old for this shit already." Dugan explained, stealing the menu from Pinkerton and muttering "Bite me Pinky." when he protested. 

"This assassin needs to be confronted today." Sousa countered. "We have a very limited window of opportunity here. If we don't get on the train to Cardiff in the next few hours who knows where they'll be? It's believed they know they have a tail on them, but as soon as they can they'll slip them and get on one of the boats leaving the harbor and then bam, lost opportunity." 

"He's very no-nonsense isn't he Carter?" Dugan asked, turning to his friend. Carter smiled. " Reminds me a bit of Cap." 

"Yes, he is a lot like him, isn't he?" Carter said, looking at Sousa and trying hard not to laugh at the expression of confusion and, she noted, growing annoyance, on his face. "But he is also very different. And I wouldn't have him any other way." That earned her a blush from Sousa and a laugh from all the others and she suddenly felt more at ease about this mission than she had in the last couple of days. "It's no use fighting it Sousa, I know exactly what'll happen. This lot will order and consume obscene amounts of food, all put on our tab of course, before dragging us to the train station's pub and drinking at least two ales each, maybe even some whisky or brandy. Then we'll go over the plan, get on the train, go up to Cardiff, and in a flurry of bullets, swearing, and hits to the head, we'll capture the assassin where they're hiding. Am I right boys?" Dum Dum avoided looking her in the eyes, Pinky coughed, Jones became entrapped with talking to the waiter about their orders, and Dernier started repeating a recipe for soup in French, suddenly unable to talk or understand English at all. 

"Oh my god I got it!" Everyone started when Dernier (Now magically able to speak English again.) exclaimed rather loudly. 

"Jesus Dernier, lower your voice. Got what?" Jones asked, puzzled. 

"I remember where I've seen him before!" Dernier was pointing at Sousa, who looked puzzled.

"He has a name you know. It's Sousa. Agent Sousa. Agent Daniel Sousa." Sousa quipped, earning a smile from Carter. 

"Can I call you Danny Boy?" Dum Dum asked. 

"No." Dear god, Dum Dum actually pouted at that. Carter was torn between being thrilled and amazed. 

"You were the guy we heard of when we were locked up at that Hydra base. The one who lied right to the Red Skull's face and said he was out on solo reconnaissance, and got captured. Rumor was your troop was hiding not thirty feet away. You guys were outnumbered. That took some nerve. I was impressed. Was it true?" The table went silent and Carter wondered why Sousa had never mentioned this part of his life to her before. Why hadn't she recognized him the first time she saw him at the office? She was so sure she'd talked to everyone that Steve had freed that day.

"Ah...yeah, yeah it's true." Sousa replied, putting down his coffee cup and looking downtrodden and tired out of no where. "We were outnumbered ten to one. Even if we'd given it all we had, we wouldn't have made it out. Not with the heavy machinery the bad guys had been packing."

"You got tortured..." Dum Dum began, his expression sad and a bit angry now. "They had you in a cell next to mine for awhile. You would disappear for a few hours and come back looking like death warmed over. I remember tellin' Bucky how wrong it was, that whole situation, but especially the one with you. They only ever took you out of that cell, no one else. Then, after awhile they just...stopped."

"Someone took my place apparently." Sousa replied "Tripped a guard and grabbed him by the ankles through the bars during a check when most of the prisoners were asleep and then told the other guards who came to help that he'd pull the guard more into the cell and then crush his kneecaps if they didn't switch the two of us. Leave me alone and take him." 

"Bucky..." Pinkerton muttered. Everyone looked at him, puzzled. "One day, out of the blue they took Bucky from our cell and I believe we didn't see him again until Cap broke us out." 

"So James Barnes was willing to die to save the life of a fellow soldier he'd never met in a Hydra base, just because he wanted to help." Carter wasn't entirely surprised by this. In the short time she'd known Barnes, he'd struck her as the type to do that. The type to put others before himself in a life or death situation. The type to take the beating for someone else when he saw it was just going to get worse.

"Sounds like him." Dum Dum agreed. 

"He died, didn't he? I heard something about that. During one of your missions in Russia." The air around the table shifted yet again to one of pure sadness and regret, and Carter felt her heart clench once more over the thought of losing such a respectable young man. 

"Yes. It was awful. He fell from a train on a mountainside into a river during winter. We couldn't even recover his body to send home." Dernier confirmed. The table was fairly silent for awhile after that, the guys focusing on scarfing down , as Carter had predicted, an insane amount of food, before suddenly getting up, grabbing their jackets and gear, and looking ready to leave.

"Come on Sousa, you're walkin' with me. I want to get all the details about what Carter's been up to, in and out of the agency. Every mission and domestic occurrence. Is she a bad cook? I bet she's a bad cook. One night, at one of the bases, the cooks were ill and Peggy tried to cook a can of beans at her tent. Damn well nearly burned her tent and the rest down to the ground. I don't know how she managed it but she did." 

"Shut up Dum Dum." Carter hissed, making the others laugh. Secretly though, as she signed her name to the check and told them to bill it to the tab, Carter couldn't help but be pleased when she saw Dum Dum swing an arm around Sousa's shoulders, and matched his slower walk towards the door without batting an eye. 

Her worlds collided, yes, but they collided in such a smooth way it didn't really feel like two worlds colliding at all. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: You know the drill. Keep the prompts coming! I'm working on all of them!


	7. The Life That Died In War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sousa was sent home during the war, he didn't know exactly what to expect when he got back to Boston. He knew that the United States was suffering as well, economically and otherwise. Families losing their sons to the draft and the occasional daughter to the nursing programs that took them overseas as well. Some made it back, some didn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Prompt from lasergirl " Sousa stays with his widower mother after he's sent home, the war is still on, he does what he can to help her out, she is enamoured with the Captain America serials in the paper, the cinema and the radio." 
> 
> Thank you all, once again, for your support and prompts. I am grateful and eternally blown away!

* * *

 

When Sousa was sent home during the war, he didn't know exactly what to expect when he got back to Boston. He knew that the United States was suffering as well, economically and otherwise. Families losing their sons to the draft and the occasional daughter to the nursing programs that took them overseas as well. Some made it back, some didn't. 

Honorable discharge. 

When he had woken up after the incident that took his leg, almost a week after, he was told by his commander what had happened (He was a little fuzzy understandably.) and what would happen next. Honorable discharge. As soon as he was well enough to be moved and to travel, he would be sent home. Permanently. No coming home. 

It was Christmas 1944, and his mother met him at the dock. He was in a wheelchair for awhile, then he would move to a crutch. When he spotted his mother and she spotted him, he had hoped for a smile, or a look of relief, love. Instead she just looked...sad. Sad and disappointed. In him. It wasn't enough that he came home alive, a decorated soldier, a hero. 

It was that he came home _early_. That he came home before the war was over. He came home damaged. 

His mother was always strict but fair. She had moments where she was cold but she was loving as well. She was a mother taught by her own mother in the ways of her homeland, Portugal. She was third generation off the boat, no accent left, but she still kept the old traditions alive. Their apartment used to be lively, filled with music and smelled wonderful from the cooking she and his avós would do all the time and the incense that would burn at the altar of Santo Maria. Despite so many setbacks and issues caused from being an immigrant family, even a third generation family, in the United States, they had been happy. His family was generous, despite what little they had, and his avó on his mother's side would always say "A caridade começa em casa." Charity begins at home. Love, religion, and occasionally materials, the charity was abundant for a long time. 

But then tragedy struck, when he'd been but fourteen years old. An accident at the docks, a beam slipped from it's harness while a new building was being built. In the early morning, the day of his fourteenth birthday, he said 'Adeus pai!' Goodbye father! He didn't know it would be for the last time. He didn't know seeing him walk out the door would be the last time he saw him alive. 

Perhaps that why his mother grew to hate him in the time since. He offered to drop out of school and start working at the docks, to replace the income they'd lost after his father's death. But his avós said no, they would help them out financially. His mother turned cold after that, no warmth left, no love. Not on the outside at least. Not to him. His siblings, they saw it occasionally but he never did. A part of him believed that she thought him to be bad luck. That it was his fault his father died that day on his birthday. He was a curse. 

Which is why he was surprised when she had agreed to take him in when he arrived back from England. 

" Hello Daniel." she greeted, her expression not changed. She took hold of his wheelchair from the young man who had wheeled him onto the dock, and they were on their way. 

They returned to the old apartment, his siblings long gone to marriages, colleges with scholarships, or in one case, Sousa hated to think about it, death. He expected to see the same sparse, colorless apartment that he'd left when he was 17. Photos of not just his father but everyone gone, the decorations that had once made the place so beautiful despite it's griminess were gone. To his surprise, he heard the radio on, and he saw color. Red, white, and blue. Lunch pales, posters, medicine tins, anything that could be marketed with someone's face or logo on it, he was assaulted by the image and presence of Captain America. 

"You've...redecorated." Daniel said, looking around at all the items in the apartment that were plastered with the man's face or the image of his shield. 

"Yes I did. It's wonderful. I took much comfort from Captain America during this disaster. He's a true hero. The world needs more of him." She pushed him over by the couch where he maneuvered himself to sit on, and then she dropped her purse on a chair next to the couch and took off her jacket. "You hungry o menino?" 

"A little bit. There was food on the ship but what with rations..."

"Sim sim, I'll get you some food." Daniel was surprised, she never offered him food when he came home from school before he left. He wasn't allowed to come to visit after he left home. She came back after twenty minutes to see him asleep on the couch, and she pursed her lips, debating whether or not to wake him up. In the dim light of the room, she got a good look at him for the first time in over a decade, and she felt her heart break. He looked just like his father, how had she never seen that before? He looked tired, worn down. Broken. He was broken, she remembered, looking at his legs, staring particularly at the stiffness of his prosthetic. He was beaten down and the joy and hope that she had once witnessed in him even in their darkest days when he was little were gone. She had felt anger and sadness the day his father died, and on a different level she had blamed her eldest child for his death. It had been his birthday and there was an old superstition one of her childhood friends had had, if tragedy struck on the day of a relatives birth, that relative was cursed. She knew, on a logical level that it was wrong and ridiculous, but she couldn't help it. She felt wronged when she lost the love of her life, and a dark part of her made her think maybe...if the positions were switched, if Daniel had taken the job offer he'd gotten from his pai's boss...

"Mãe?" Daniel had woken up, and the affection she'd felt for him, the guilt over how she felt and treated him, got pushed to the back of her mind, and the coldness returned.

"You fell asleep."

"Sorry."

"It's...it's alright. I'm going to make açorda alentejana. The Georges across the way started to keep chickens on the roof of the building. We have eggs." Daniel nodded and attempted a smile. His mother didn't return it.

 

He was at her home for three months, and during that time he was there, he felt his depression consuming him. His mother, as he learned, became obsessed with the Captain back in '42, when he was starting out with his shows and bonds ads. She would go to the cinema with Mrs. George from across the hall every day to see the reels. The radio was on all the time and tuned into one of several Captain America radio shows. It had been a year since he disappeared, presumed dead, but in the hearts of the public he was alive and well. Captain America this, Captain America that. Steve Rogers, you ever hear about him? What a dream boat, what a hero! No one could compare to him!

The worst part of all of it was he couldn't argue when it came to saying that Captain America, Steve Rogers, was a true hero and a good man. He was. Sousa had heard the stories and encountered it firsthand even. Steve Rogers was a good man, a good soldier. He deserved to live, he deserved to continue on. And yet he wasn't doing that, not anymore. No one knew what happened to him exactly, whether he was alive or dead, but the army had declared him the latter after months of searching. He'd heard that Howard Stark, a friend of his apparently, refused to give up. In between being a billionaire, a mogul, a philanthropist, and partying, he would lead privately funded searches in the area Rogers' plane had gone down.  

Sousa felt resentment, but it wasn't for Rogers. He'd done nothing wrong. He felt resentment for the public, the media at large. Here were all these war heroes, just like him, that were coming back injured and some in coffins. He knew the public needed their hope but they were ignoring a big issue. The war was still raging and the soldiers needed help now more than ever. But it wasn't just them, it was the people back home as well. Poverty was at an all time high and the families of the soldiers were facing more and more issues. People were ignoring the real issues for a quick fix. The casualties of war. 

He got work at the office of the dock company that his father had worked for, the one good thing of that whole arrangement. 'Ah Daniel! My have you grown! You're looking for work? Of course we can get you some work! Anything for a relative of Abrahan's.'. Every time a boat came in with soldiers, he saw the beaten down, the tired, the look of lost hope. The coffins. So so many coffins. Mothers crying, fathers with stoic faces, siblings in tears, unable to understand how the world could be so cruel. 

He wished he'd known the answer to that, because he wondered it as well. 

Once, a month after he started the job, a coffin had been misplaced. A soldier, a young Irish American boy who'd been killed in France during the storming of the Normandy beaches. Or so the itinerary had said. But the person who was in the coffin marked with the young man's name was not the young man. It was the remains of a nurse who'd been killed when the camp she'd been stationed at was bombed. The parents and siblings came into the office, rightfully mortified, upset, and furious. 

"My boy! My little boy! He was only seventeen years old! Do you understand me? Seventeen! How  could you let this happen? Can you explain that to me young man? How does a seventeen year old boy not make it home when so many others do?" The mother was speaking through her anger and her tears, and looked ready to collapse. More and more Sousa felt his resolve and good will crumble. His positive outlook on the world was shattered when he was overseas. He was now getting it crushed into smaller pieces. 

"I'm sorry miss. We're looking through the coffins now and trying to find..."

"Now look here young man! We just want our boy so we can bury him! Give him a proper funeral!" The father was shouting, of course he was shouting. The fathers always shouted. 

"Dad, give him a break, it isn't his fault that the coffins were mixed up. He didn't tag them in England, someone else did." The young man who was there with them spoke up. A son. He looked tired and wary. Sousa guessed he had been in the war as well. He could tell. 

"No, no they will be held responsible for this! This is their fault!" 

"No it isn't , dad, you're making a scene. The office in England? Sure, they messed up. This man here? He didn't mess up." 

"Stay out of this Seamus!" The father snapped, and the boy's posture went rigid. 

"Do not ever tell me what to do. You have no right to tell me what to do. You do not get to snap at me and act like you care and pretend like you are such a good person when the first words you said to me when I got home were ' I wish you'd died instead of him.'." Seamus was furious, and rightfully so. He stood toe to toe with his father, taller than him by a considerable amount of inches. 

"Seamus..." the mother warned, wringing her hands and looking more and more upset. "...don't...he's just upset because..."

"No! Stop mother, just stop! Stop making excuses for him!" Seamus turned on his heel and stormed out of the office. The mother burst out crying and the siblings ran after their brother. The father turned back towards Sousa and then looked down and saw the stiffness of his leg, took a guess.

"You army?" 

"Formally, yes. I got my leg blown off by a land mine. Got sent home." Maybe...just maybe...

"So why do you get to come home alive but my boy is dead? Why did a crip get to live but not my boy? What makes you so damn special?" 

There it was. 

He returned home that night, with help from a friend he'd made in the office that lived in the same building. Before they opened the door to the apartment, he heard his mother talking to who sounded like Mrs. George. 

"Captain America was really something wasn't he?" Mrs. George exclaimed. They were probably listening to that radio show. 

" Yes, yes he was. A good boy.  A good, strong boy. A boy a mother would actually be proud of. " A boy a mother would _actually_ be proud of. Unlike him. Unlike her actual son.

"Aye yes. A good son. A proud one. And so handsome."

"And he was not broken, unlike mine, not in the end. That boy, that boy he ended things being strong and fit, and agile. He didn't need access to wheelchair ramps or anything like that."

"You aren't proud of your boy? He got hurt saving others..."

"Captain America wouldn't have gotten his leg blasted off. He would have prevented the people from being near that landmine in the first place. That boy is incompetent."

"Don't you think you're being a little harsh? He couldn't have predicted that... not even Captain America could have..."

"No, no he could. Captain America wouldn't have made his mother feel guilty and bad about herself. He'd make her proud."

Sousa felt his friend, David, tense up behind him.

"David..." Sousa began, holding back his anger and his tears. 

"Yeah Daniel?" David replied, his voice a bit shaky.

"Can I...can I stay at your apartment tonight? I'll take the couch."

"No, that's ridiculous. You take the bed, I'll take the couch. And yes."

Daniel didn't return to his mother's apartment after that. David retrieved his things and he stayed with his friend before he found his own place with help from the guys at the office.

Months later, he ran into his mother at an outside market, and she looked confused and hurt, much to his own confusion. He'd recently been approached by the S.S.R. with a job opportunity. His war record coupled with words from his commanders and other high ranked soldiers in the army landed him a spot in the New York office. He'd been in the market with his friend David to find food for a little going away party for himself, and to have food for his journey to New York City and his new life.

"Hey crip, hows it hanging? Good and wooden?"

"Can you take baths or does your leg well up like a log? Bet you smell!"

"I'm gonna be a real boy someday!" said in an accent matching Pinocchio's. He'd heard them all.

"Ignore them." David whispered as they moved on to another set of stalls.

"I do."

"Daniel?" Daniel turned around, now with use of his crutch, and was surprised to see his mother standing there, shopping bag in one arm, looking just as surprised as himself.

"Hello mother."

"Hello Mrs. Sousa."

"What are you doing here?"

"Shopping." David replied, before Daniel could say anything. "We're having a going away party for Daniel and he needed food for his journey anyway so he went along."

"Going? Going where?"

"New York City. Got a nice job at a telephone company." Daniel commented, trying to not look anxious.

"I see. No more war stuff then."

"Mother, the war is over. Of course it isn't." He tried to keep his anger and aggravation out of his voice but it was hard.

"Still..." she left the words unsaid but he knew what she wanted to say. 'You could have done more.'

"Yes. Still." David quipped.

"David it's fine..."

"No it isn't."

"Hush boy, you have no right to interf..."

"Yes, actually I do. The one person here who has no right to say anything about this situation is you." David snapped. Mrs. Sousa looked abashed and ready to hit him with her shopping bag. Indeed she was about to raise it when he made a gesture with his right arm. "No, end of discussion. You do not talk to Daniel anymore. Come on  Daniel." David turned to leave, and Daniel followed, giving his mother one last look and feeling sadness and anger over the whole situation.

"You make me wish I had no sons! You make me wish Steve Rogers had been my son! He might be dead but he was better than you!" she shouted at his back. "I wish that land mine had done you in! At least I wouldn't have the shame of telling my friends my son is a broken man!"

"Yeah well you know what mother?" Daniel shouted back, his expression so full of anger it made her step back. " I wish I'd died that day too!"

A landmine. An act of bravery. An operation. A recovery.

An honorable discharge.

And the death of his life before the war.

That Captain America sure was something alright, but he currently wasn't having to deal with the aftermath of the war and the havoc it wrought.

 

The End.  

 

 


	8. Sweetheart Of Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A snippet of Daniel and Peggy's wedding night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, after that last chapter I decided I needed to do a prompt that...wouldn't lead to me feeling incredibly depressed. SO, prompt from Elise "Peggy and Daniel's wedding (or wedding night)." . I sort of went with a little of each. 
> 
> THIS CHAPTER IS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN TEEN AND UP AND MATURE!
> 
> The song lyrics from the beginning are from the song "Be Careful, It's My Heart" originally from the movie Holiday Inn (One of my favorites.).

* * *

 

_Sweetheart of mine, I've sent you a Valentine_   
_Sweetheart of mine, it's more than a Valentine_   
  
_Be careful, it's my heart,_   
_It's not my watch you're holding, it's my heart..._

Peggy smiled, for the millionth time that day, and felt contentment wash over her. She rested her head on Daniel's shoulder and pulled him closer, nestling into his neck, and enjoying the feel of his arms tightening around her as well. It was late, most guests had gone home, but the band was still playing and a few people, their closest friends, were still there. There were a few bottles of champagne left, and everything felt perfect. His dress jacket was on a chair at the table Angie and her boyfriend were currently sleeping at (Angie leaned against David, and both leaning against the chairs and wall.), and the short, ruby red cape that Peggy wore during the ceremony and for most of the reception. Daniel's waistcoat was on the chair with his jacket, and Peggy's heels, next to the table. 

"I love you." She whispered into his neck, chuckling when the tickle of her breath caused him to squirm a bit. 

"I love you too." He replied, placing a kiss on her bare shoulder. The dress she wore was off shoulder and tea length, asymmetrical, empire waist. It was perfect. Perfect for the wedding. She knew going with red wasn't traditional, but nothing about their relationship or lives was traditional. 

"Have I told you how happy I am I married you?" Peggy asked as the song ended and they stayed together and heard another song start up.

"Not in the last hour." Peggy laughed and Daniel smiled, enjoying the feel of the vibrations from her laughing. 

"Well then I better amend that. I am so happy I married you Daniel, that I am happy I decided to take that S.S.R. job and deal with all that rubbish." 

"Wow, those are powerful words there Carter." Peggy pulled her head up from where it had been resting and kissed him soundly. 

"That's Carter-Sousa to you." 

"Such cheek." Daniel quipped, his eyes full of love and joy, matching her own. 

"Oh I learned it from my husband. He's the cheekiest person I know. A real trouble maker. And I love him." 

"Well I believe your husband loves you too." 

"Well that's good considering I married him. This is for life buddy, you're stuck with me." Daniel took her hands in his and led them off the dance floor slowly, never breaking eye contact.

"Oh how awful." He muttered, pulling her closer and kissing her deeply, running his hands up her arms and causing her to shiver. 

"Mm." came a not so verbal reply. Peggy pushed her body closer to his and grabbed his arms, tightly, enjoying the closeness. She felt his fingers go up her sides , feather light, and she felt shivers up her spine. His hands went from her spine to her back, roaming the space that he'd mapped out over their years together, roaming lower and lower...

"Get a room!" They sprang apart like deer at the sound of a twig snapping, seeing , of all people, Chester Philips laughing, surrounded by the Howling Commandos, all watching them intently. 

"We have one!" Peggy shouted back, earning another round of laughter from the men. "Well...shall we?" 

"We shall." Daniel took her hand and led her out of the ballroom, stopping only to put coats on Angie and David to work as a makeshift blanket for the two, before heading up to their room. Stark had insisted on them having the wedding at his mansion in Tarrytown, New York, and after a few heated arguments, Peggy agreed, and so did Daniel. 

They went up to the suite that Stark had set aside for them, and Peggy stopped ten feet away from the door. 

"Peggy?" Daniel asked, puzzled. "I was under the impression we were going to..." Peggy shushed him, putting one of her fingers to his lips. 

"Now Agent Sousa, is that anyway to address your superior? I am the deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D. after all..." Her voice was low and gravely, and Sousa felt his heart pounding and took a deep breath. Oh, so this is the game she wanted to play it huh? 

"Well I've never really been a rebel but lately, I dunno, I've been feeling it a little bit. Gotta shake things up some..." Her finger drew a line down his lips, chin, and throat, and resting her fingers at the first button he hadn't undone earlier. She moved closer and noticed, with pleasure, him  shivering at the contact. She deftly undid the button, as she had several times before, a coy smile on her lips. 

"I will not tolerate insubordination Agent Sousa." Peggy scolded, biting her lower lip, and looking down at his chest, then back to his lips. "I think..." Another button. "...you might... " Another button. " ...need to be..." the waistcoat buttons undone "...punished." She undid the final buttons slowly, and ran her hands up his chest, appreciating the rapid breathing she could hear coming from him. She attacked his mouth with hers, wrapping her arms around his waist. She broke the kiss, much to his chagrin, before moving to his neck, causing him to moan rather loudly, not bothering to suppress her own when he bucked against her. 

"Bedroom." Sousa gasped, and Peggy nodded, dragging him into the room and slamming the door. They stumbled towards the bed and broke the kiss only to start undressing, even then stealing kisses and caresses.

Outside, Angie and David had paused, hearing noises coming from their friends' room. David looked scandalized and Angie had a smirk on her face so wide her face looked like it would split in half.

"Damn, get it English." Angie said, mildly impressed.

"Oh my god..." David  squeaked. "I..." 

"Come on, let's not linger. It's pervy." Angie commented, taking David's arm and walking down the hallway towards their room. "Wanna see if we can be louder?" 

Angie cackled at David's squeak and shut the door of their room. 

And all was well that night. 

 


	9. Like A World Turned Upside Down, My Heart Is Growing Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Please don't run Peggy. Then I'll know it's true."
> 
> SPOILERS FOR THE LATEST EPISODE!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Prompt from EJ "Sousa's thoughts when he and Thompson bring in Peggy for questioning." 
> 
> I am so overwhelmed, you guys have all been so great and I'm just so happy and I feel so loved. I'm working on all the prompts, I promise. I literally have a list where I'm keeping track of them. I have six on the list right now, but keep them coming! I promise I'll write them.

* * *

 

"Please don't run Peggy. Then I'll know it's true." He'd asked her not to run, he might have even begged her had it come to that. Anything but have her confirm by her actions that she had done what he believed she had done. 

"I'm sorry Daniel." Yes, he was sorry as well. A part of him had wished it wasn't true but logically he knew it was. He guessed he'd asked because that part of him that wished it wasn't true, hoped that even if she was she would turn herself in to spare him. 

He was wrong. 

....

She was still drugged up in the car ride over, and while he was burning with questions, he was kind of grateful that she was too out of it to say anything. Anything she would say now would be another cut to his heart anyway. All of the lies, why so many  lies?

"You okay there Sousa?" Sousa didn't bother to look at Thompson. He didn't want to. His anger over the situation was spreading to not just Peggy but everyone. Including Thompson. What a crock. _'No gal is gonna trade a red, white, and blue, shield for a crutch.'_ Now Krzeminski's words were more cutting than they had been because they were right. She had never actually liked him, friend or otherwise. She'd been using him. 

At least the guys were open about being assholes. At least they didn't pretend to be something they weren't. At least they didn't pretend to like him.

He felt so...betrayed. By the one person he thought would never betray him.

He knew this whole thing was bigger than him, bigger than Thompson, bigger than any of them. This wasn't about him, and he knew that. In a way, he knew he hadn't a right to be so upset and angry about himself and his situation. But after facing so much anger and hurt and abandonment, he had hoped that for once someone wasn't going to hurt him, to use him. 

Just once. 

"We're here. Come on Sousa, let's take her inside." 

As they walked into the doors of the fake telephone company and through to the back, Sousa felt numb. How did it get to this point? How did Peggy get into all of this? Why did she get into all of this? From what he'd read in her files she was a decorated agent, a good person, one of the best. How did she get into something so dark? Unless it had all been an act and she'd been playing everyone from the beginning. Even during the war. 

Had it all been a lie? 

He'd been so sure he was good at reading people. He'd been so sure he'd read her right. He thought she was a good person, a kind person. He thought that they had been alike, kindred souls in an office filled with assholes who wouldn't give them a second glance because they were the odd ones out.

Apparently not. 

"Don't go easy on her just because she's a woman." Thompson commented when they were about to begin the interrogation. Sousa opened the file in front of him and took the pen and paper he'd brought with him and put that on next to the file. He could feel Carter's eyes searing a hole in his head, and his numbness to the situation was starting to wear off. He was left with sadness mixed with acceptance of his current situation. 

"Daniel, I..."

"Now Agent Carter, mind explaining to us how you started working with Howard Stark in his weapon dealings?"

He noticed, with some satisfaction, that Peggy's lips pursed and there was a hint of hurt in her eyes. It was sadistic, and he knew he should feel like an ass, but at this moment he didn't care. At this moment, he wasn't falling for any tricks she may throw his way. At this moment he resolved to never trust anyone else ever again, for what had it brought him but hurt? 

No, he wouldn't fall for anymore tricks, he wouldn't believe anymore of her lies. He would hold his own, despite the fact that his heart was breaking. 

He would hold his own despite the fact that the woman he was interrogating for charges of murder, treason, espionage, and a multitude of other things was the woman he was in love with. 

He would hold his own even though he felt the ice freezing over his heart. 

The End. 

Or is it?

 


	10. Like A World Turned Upside Down, My Heart Is Starting To Thaw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "She wants to talk to you." Thompson said, coming out of the interrogation room after an hour, looking frustrated.
> 
> "I don't want to talk to her." Sousa replied, sitting at his desk and enjoying the numbness that had come back.
> 
> "She will tell all, everything from start to finish. She says she can prove her innocence and lead us to the real bad guys, but she won't talk to anyone but you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This prompt is from Alli "Carter tells Sousa everything, even about Steve's blood.". I tried to make it a bit lighter to make up for the last one.

* * *

 

After an hour of interrogation, Thompson made Sousa leave the room. He wasn't sure if it was because Thompson thought he was incompetent or if he thought he was being too rough, or if he felt like Sousa was too close to this case because...

He didn't think he'd been that obvious, but the men at the office hadn't gotten their jobs there for nothing.

He sat down at his desk, unsure of what to do next. Their main priority had been Peggy and finding out what she knew. Without her confession, they didn't have much to work on.

So he just sat there, thinking, trying not to look towards the interrogation room and wonder if Thompson was getting anywhere. So he sat, and wondered, and waited. He looked over the past year in his head and wondered where it was he truly messed up. What clues he'd missed that gave away Peggy's real game.

"She wants to talk to you." Thompson said, coming out of the interrogation room after an hour, looking frustrated.

"I don't want to talk to her." Sousa replied, sitting at his desk and enjoying the numbness that had come back.

"She will tell all, everything from start to finish. She says she can prove her innocence and lead us to the real bad guys, but she won't talk to anyone but you." Sousa sighed and grabbed his crutch, bracing himself for the words he was about to speak and the lies he would probably hear.

"Daniel." Peggy greeted, a sad smile on her face."

"Carter." He made sure he tried to distance himself, tried not to give into that sad smile and the emotions it brought.

"Listen, Daniel, I know you're upset, and you're angry with me, and I understand that, you have every right to be but..." 

"What I can't understand is...I mean... I thought you and me were alike. I thought we were friends." 

"You don't know me Daniel." Peggy replied, a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Clearly not." There was silence in the room, almost deafening. " Was it all an act though Carter?  I mean I know some of it was, but ..."

"I like you Daniel. I like you a lot. I do consider you a friend and an ally. When I was nice to you and worked with you, all those nights at the office, that wasn't an act. I genuinely like you Daniel, and maybe I might like you as more than just a friend, but right now there are more pressing matters. You need to believe me Daniel. We need to catch someone. If we don't, and soon, something very bad will happen. Something big and very very bad." 

" I want to believe you Peggy, believe me I do. I want nothing more than to believe you and go out and catch the bad guys and follow up on that possibility of something more but how can I when it feels like you've done nothing but lie to me since we met?" Peggy noted him calling her Peggy instead of Carter and gained a little hope. 

"Daniel... I don't know what to do to prove to you I'm telling the truth. Tell me what to do." 

"Tell me everything." He replied cooly, pen poised on the paper. "Tell me everything from start to finish, how you got mixed up in this, why, when, what was the purpose of all this, everything. If you tell me everything, I might consider believing you." 

"Daniel I can't..." 

"Then we're done here." Daniel started gathering his things, trying, she noticed, to move as fast as he could. She wondered if her hope had been extinguished, but didn't allow that to die out. 

" I was approached some months ago outside the L & L Automat, rather, I was left a note to meet someone outside in the ally." Daniel stopped, looking at her critically. 

"Go on." he replied, sitting back down. 

"Out in the alley I was approached, from the dark, by a man. Me being the suspicious and cautious type, especially after what I experienced during the war, disarmed him." 

"Disarmed him?" 

"I took him down faster than it would take to light a match." Peggy clarified, noting again with pleasure that that earned a smile from Daniel. 

"Who was it?" 

"Edwin Jarvis." Peggy knew what she was starting when she named names but at this moment she was desperate.

"Mr. Jarvis strikes me as a clever, well sourced man, despite his occasional stutter. Not the kind of man who'd be dense enough to hide in the shadows of an alley with a fighter like you on the alert." 

"He is. Most of the time. Rookie mistake so to speak." Peggy admitted. "So then, Howard drives up in his car and tells me to get in. I do, I hadn't seen him in ages and he is a friend. Although I knew something was up, obviously. While in the car, he told me about how he was being framed. That he'd been robbed a month or so prior and that recently, his inventions, the weapons that had been in his basement lab, were turning up on the black market. That someone, the Leviathan organization, was framing him as a traitor and  that they had been the ones that broke into his lab and stole all his weapons." 

"Alright, let's say I believe you. What happened next? He asked you to clear his name?" 

"Yes. He said he had a suspicion of who was behind it and gave me the ability to help out. He even left Jarvis to my disposal so to speak. As an ally and ...friend, I guess."  When Daniel quirked an eyebrow at this, Peggy expanded. "I'd been rather wary of him, rightly so I suppose. He was hiding something the entire time, and I think deep down I knew he was. Jarvis...he's a good person, and loyal, to a fault. I suppose that that is what made this all to suspicious and made it so I never entirely let my guard down. "

"Talk to me about Spider Raymond." Daniel seemed to have relaxed a bit into his chair, and Peggy hoped that was another sign that he believed her. 

"He was a lead on who it was that was selling the weapons. Word was he had one, a type of bomb, and he was going to sell to some unknown source. I needed to talk to him if I could, and failing that, grab the bomb and diffuse it. It's affects are rather...implosive." 

"Was that a joke there Peggy?" Peggy laughed and nodded.

"Yes I suppose it was. That one warehouse..."

"Imploded?" Another nod from Peggy. "Alright, continue." 

So she did. From Spider Raymond onward she told him everything. For almost an hour she told him everything that happened, her missions, suspicions, everything. Even...

"Steve Rogers' blood? Stark wanted you to get samples of Steve Rogers' blood? Why?" His look of awe , amazement, and some disgust would have been comical if the situation wasn't so serious. 

"He claimed that he wanted to use it to help save the world. But Stark...Stark wanted it to make money, I'm sure of it. That's just how he works." 

"Alright, so this thing you think is going to happen, this big, bad event, who is doing it and why? Where?" 

"I'm not entirely sure as to why or where, but I do know who and I have an idea as to how." Peggy leaned back in her chair for the first time since she'd gone into the room earlier. 

"Alright, let's start with the who and how." 

"There is a Russian organization, a new one, in town. They had a spy at the hotel I was staying at and I'm positive she has an accomplice. They're planning something, a terrorist attack of sorts. An assassination of some important people. They aim to pick at the USA's defences and bring down one of the biggest roadblocks to taking over the arms industry and, at risk of sounding cliche, the world." 

"A spy at the hotel?" 

"Dottie Underwood, the blonde woman. I don't know what her real name might be, I doubt it's Dottie." 

"Dottie, the woman who found you in the hall...she didn't find you." The realization dawning on his face would have, again, been comical, if the situation wasn't so dire, and the clock ticking down to an event that could destroy them all. 

"She knocked me out." Daniel's eyebrow shot up again, his expression one of disbelief. "There's this...there's this lipstick, it has this drug on it, when you kiss someone while wearing it, it knocks them out." 

"So she...?" 

"Kissed me, yes. Not bad either, I must admit. A bit of a shock. She knocked me off my feet." Daniel smiled again, and Peggy felt herself relax even more. Yes, he believed her now. 

"Alright Peggy. I believe you, but the others will be harder to convince. This is going to get much more ugly before it can get better and we can stop the real bad guys." 

" I know. I know the others will be harder to convince. But to be fair..." Peggy looked at Daniel, and he returned the stare, feeling his relief over the truth wash over him. "...to be fair, they don't know me as well as you do." 

"I trust you Peggy. I shouldn't, and I know there are still so many reasons to suggest why I shouldn't, but I trust you." 

"Then, Daniel, how about we save the world together?" 

"Sounds perfect Peggy, sounds perfect." 

 

The End.

 


	11. To Be So Lucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "What are you doin' here?"
> 
> "I live here. What are you doing here?"
> 
> "English called me."
> 
> "English?"
> 
> "She means me Daniel."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: No prompt this time. Just something that popped into my head yesterday. Some light, fluffy fun to counteract the sadder stuff I've been writing. :)

* * *

 

Angie Martinelli was not used to this part of town. Not that it was fancy per say, more that she never really had a reason to be there. It wasn't the rich part of the city, but it was damn near close, and she felt a bit awkward walking around in her diner uniform. She held her own though. Never let it be said that Angela Martinelli couldn't hold her own because she could dammit. She could.

"What are you doin' here?"

"I live here. What are you doing here?"

"English called me."

"English?"

"She means me Daniel." Angie stood up on her toes to peek past his shoulders and into the apartment, spotting Peggy sitting on the couch, looking back at her and smiling. "Come on Daniel, let her in." 

"You know this is my apartment right? Just cause you're staying here for awhile doesn't mean you've got full ru...okay yeah you do. Come on in Miss Martinelli." Peggy laughed at the look on his face, and the utterly puzzled look on Angie's as she walked into the hallway of the apartment. Daniel shut the front door and locked it before turning and walking past a confused and stunned Angie, and into the living room, before easing himself down onto the couch next to Peggy. 

"Do sit down Angie, there are plenty of chairs. You could even sit here on the couch." Peggy called, finally snapping Angie out of her stupor. Angie took a seat on the other side of Peggy on the couch and stared at her. "How have you been doing Angie?" 

"Fine English, just fine. The Griffith ain't the same without you though. Kinda boring. Well, after the crazy assassin was caught I mean. Wowza the stuff they found in that woman's room." 

"Good. And how is Ms. Fry?" Peggy continued, leaning forward and taking a cup from the tea tray on the table and preparing a cup as she talked. 

"She's...Ms. Fry." Angie smiled and took the cup Peggy offered her. "She was in such a huff after you got arrested, and she kept on and on about it. She just now stopped commenting about it all the time." 

"It's been two weeks..." Daniel commented, puzzled and amazed. Angie shrugged. 

"Yeah well, that's Ms. Fry for you." Peggy had prepared a cup for Daniel and herself, and leaned back into the cushioning of the couch, looking fairly content. Angie noted, curiously, that Peggy was leaning in to Daniel just the _tiniest bit_ , and she smirked. "So, speaking of hotels and living arrangements..." 

"I didn't realize that was the main topic of the conversation at the moment." Peggy quipped. Angie had a feeling that Peggy knew she saw the lean. Crafty girl. 

"Neither did I." Daniel added. Angie watched the two of them for a minute, Daniel readjusted his position on the couch and Peggy took a pillow from behind her and pushed it behind his back, Daniel nodding at her gratefully. If they weren't together yet, they would be soon, she was sure of it. 

" Well I mean, you asked about how things are with me, and a part of that is the Griffith Hotel. Lodgings. Places to stay." Angie wondered if her blunt obviousness was annoying Peggy just a tad, and a part of her wished it was, just to tease her a bit. 

"I suppose." Peggy replied, nonchalant. 

"Are you hungry Ms. Martinelli? We don't have much at the moment. Getting to the market in the last week has been kind of an... issue. But we do have food." Daniel asked. Angie's smile grew larger. Oh this was beautiful and golden and she was going to enjoy this. 

"We?" Angie noted, the grin just refusing to leave her face. She observed, with pleasure, that Daniel was turning beet red, and even Peggy's cheeks were getting red as well. 

"Well...I  mean...while Peggy is staying here, what's mine is hers, including the food so... um. What's that? Did you say sandwiches and those biscuits Peggy likes? More tea? Okay, I can do that. Yep." Never before had Peggy seen him move faster, his face the shade of a fire truck, down the hall and into the kitchen he went. 

"That was a little mean." Peggy scolded, taking another sip of her tea and looking ahead instead of at Angie, but a small smile on her face. 

"I just like seein' him squirm. You shoulda seen him when I did that cryin' bit in my place when they were lookin' for you. So uncomfortable. Men don't deal with emotional women too well." Angie reached for the teapot and refilled her cup before grabbing Daniel's empty one and filling that as well, setting it back down in front of where he was sitting.

"Yes, well, they're men. They're taught to be like that. It is a bit ridiculous. He isn't always like that though. I think you scare him a bit." Peggy muttered, a full on smirk on  her face. 

"Good. I'm glad. Can't have my bestie around someone who don't know what's what. Gotta keep him on his toes." Angie realized that Peggy was now looking at her, an eyebrow raised in question but the smirk still firmly in place. "Oh come on English, don't play dumb, it doesn't suit ya." 

"Why Angie, whatever do you mean? I am genuinely puzzled by your comments." 

"Suuuure." Angie looked around, for the first time, at the living room they were currently seated in. The place wasn't posh by any means, but it was relatively big. Way bigger than any place she'd ever lived in. But it was modestly decorated and she noticed that there were obvious at home fixes to certain pieces of furniture and decorations. Right in front of the couch was the hallway that led to the front door, to the right, another hallway that led to the kitchen (Since Daniel had gone down that hallway and through the door.). and to the left, yet another hallway that she guessed led to the bedrooms and bathroom. Big, but modestly so. "So, how can Mr. Agent Man afford this? He doesn't strike me as the super rich type, or maybe I'm just way worse than readin' people than I thought." 

"A friend of his, David, he came into some money a couple of years ago. They used to live in the same apartment building in Boston, grew up together. He saved David's life during the war. So when he moved to New York for the job with the...right, I haven't explained that part to you yet, when he came to New York for his job where we met, David put him up here. They had a hell of a row about it though. Daniel's a very proud sort of man, proud but with with good reason. He isn't really one to take hand outs, but his friend convinced him that in the end it wouldn't be a handout. It'd be him repaying what Daniel did. Although in my opinion, that's the sort of thing you can never really repay. Not entirely." 

"What changed? Just two weeks ago he was huntin' you down as a traitor or something like that and now you're...?" Angie realized she didn't know exactly what their arrangement was, if there was really one. Although she doubted she was wrong about them being attracted to each other, that much was obvious, she wondered if they still somehow didn't realize that. 

"We...I convinced him that we were on the same side when it came to good and bad. That what they had thought was the situation wasn't the situation. That I was innocent. That Howard Stark was innocent..."

"Wait a second, Howard Stark? As in the billionaire weapons manufacturer Howard Stark?" Angie asked, her mouth agape. Peggy nodded.

"We were friends during the war and...that is a very long story for another time." Peggy set her cup back down in it's saucer and sighed. "So we ...stopped and caught the bad guys, an act that was not easy especially since he kind of broke me out of where they were holding me to do so..." 

"Wow. I'm impressed." Angie commented. 

"Indeed. Anyway, despite saving the day and doing all that good, we're temporarily suspended while things are being figured out. However, there is someone there, a friend of mine, making sure the others don't take the credit where they don't need to and keeping them in line. War connections, they come in handy." 

"Oh of  course." Peggy smiled at her snarky comment. So far so good. "Still don't explain why you're currently staying with Mr. Agent Man." 

"Well, I mean I couldn't go back to the Griffith now could I? Stark offered to let me stay at one of the penthouses or mansions, but I obviously couldn't accept..." 

"Obviously." That earned Angie a light smack on the side of her arm, and she laughed. "So is there a reason you couldn't stay at another hotel or ...?" Peggy started blushing again, and Angie was loving watching her squirm just as much as she loved watching Daniel squirm. 

"Well I mean...it would be better for me to stick close to the office in case...and we aren't that far from here...and he is a colleague so it's someone I can talk to and...well this place is big enough for two people and it just sort of...happened. I stayed here right after everything was over, or rather, I fell asleep while we were talking and I sort of...never left." 

"And are you stayin' in the guest room or his room?" Angie asked, her eyes positively gleaming with amusement. 

"Angie!" Peggy hissed, looking down the hallway that led to the kitchen.

" You didn't answer my question English. You stayin' in a guest room or his room?" 

"What kind of girl do you take me for Angie? I'm hardly one to... I mean  I wouldn't...we barely know each other and _he_ wouldn't..." 

"Mhm." Angie swiftly got up from the couch, looked Peggy right in the eyes, with a mischievous glint that told Peggy nothing good would come from her friend's next actions, and...

...bolted for the hallway that led to to the bedrooms. Peggy shot up and ran after her, her face now matching Daniel's when he'd left to make the food. 

"Angie! Angie no! Don't! I can explain! We just...I..."

"I _knew_ it !" Angie shrieked after throwing the door she figured led to the master bedroom wide open. "I knew it. I see those heels on the floor and that jacket that clearly isn't Daniel's style on that chair, and some other delicate things peekin' out of that dresser. So unless you're tellin' me Mr. Agent Man likes to cross dress, I'm not judgin' if he does, these are some clear signs of cohabitation ala Peggy Carter and Daniel Sousa." 

"How do you know he didn't just give me this room and he took the guest?" Peggy countered, still flushed. 

"Besides his jacket on the other chair over there, that clearly being read at night book on that side of the bed's night stand, and the very very distinct smell of that cologne, yes I noticed, don't look at me like that, in the air? And, you know, " Angie turned on her heel and looked at her friend triumphantly. " the very very telling tell that you are currently blushing brighter than a strawberry?" 

"Fine Martinelli, you've made your case. Now can we please return to the couch before he comes back and this gets more awkward?" 

"Too late for that Peggy." Peggy whirled around and squeaked 'Oh my god!' when she saw Daniel leaning close by on the hallway wall, arms folded, crutch nearby, expression quizzical. "You won't say anything right? It's not so much the people we work for rather than it is the much unneeded attention this would bring from the media if it got out." Angie nodded at this. 

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. Did you get the food? I'm suddenly starving." Daniel nodded, picked up his crutch, and began walking down the hallway back to the living room. As Angie walked past Peggy, Peggy gently grabbed her arm.

"Can I ask now, what changed your mind about Daniel? From what I heard during your little act a couple weeks ago and your words after, you didn't seem too fond of him." 

"It's cuz English, and I'm going to be one hundred percent honest with you here, when I got here, you gave him the dopiest look on the planet, complete with dopey grin and affectionate little actions, and I knew that anyone you clearly liked...no, you know what, loved, because there is no one who could convince me that that isn't where this is headin', I knew that anyone you loved that much had to be a good person. Cuz you're choosy , and that's a good thing. And you know what's what. And anyone you trust enough to take permanent care of your heart one day, is someone I can trust to." Without another word, Angie continued down the hall, into the living room, and sat herself right next to Daniel, slowly nudging him to the middle of the couch so that he had to be the middle now instead of Peggy. Peggy saw them, Angie's eyes smiling, a happy expression, Daniel blushing but looking no worse for wear and rather pleased himself, and couldn't help but wonder how she'd gotten so lucky.

 

The End. 

 

 

 


	12. What Was Said Was Not Meant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Through a haze of bullets, shouting, and the distant sound of what she was sure was grenades, Peggy and Daniel have a heart to heart. 
> 
> SPOILERS FOR JUST AIRED EPISODE!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As it happens, Alli, your prompt fits nicely into this little scene I thought up after watching tonight's episode and seeing the preview for next week. So here it goes! :)

* * *

 

"Daniel, duck!" Peggy shouted, just before she tackled him to the ground and dragged him behind a counter in the store they had followed some Leviathan into. Daniel looked up to see the mirror that had been behind him completely shattered by bullets, and breathed a momentary sigh of relief before he picked his gun back up and shot it quickly over the top of the counter before ducking once more. He noted, with satisfaction, the sound of a body hitting the floor, and felt Peggy rise beside him, getting a few shots off and...

One, two, three, four. There went the others. Of course, just because they got rid of the ones they'd followed, didn't mean others weren't coming soon. There was no way they couldn't guess who or what was in the store from the street from the state of the windows and the shop itself. It was...or had been, a small grocery shop. Not anymore. 

"I've never thought you were a whore." Daniel blurted out after a few minutes of silence. Peggy turned her head from where it'd been resting on the side of the counter and looked at him, confused. 

"What?" 

"Back in the interrogation room you said I was the one who imagined you on a pedestal only too then imagine you as some low life whore. I never thought you were a whore."

"Are we really going to have this conversation right now Daniel?" Peggy asked, exasperated. She could hear the screaming, shooting, and the sound of...yes, those were certainly grenades going off outside, and Daniel wanted to talk about his perceptions of her? Really? Right now? 

"The only reason I bring it up is because, let's face it Carter, what are the actual chances of me getting out of this alive? Slim with the amount of enemies out there, and I don't want to die without you knowing a few things about myself in regards to my life and...you." 

"Stop. You're going to make it out of this Daniel, I kn-"

"Be realistic Carter! What if I'm not fast enough to run from some of them, or my only escape route is a ladder. Do you know how damn hard it is to go up a ladder with this leg?  Extremely. They'd pick me off easier than shooting fish in a barrel. So please, let me continue?" Peggy opened her mouth to form a rebuttal, but then shut it when she saw a look on his face that did not bode well. 

"Alright, just give me a second, I hear someone entering the shop." She pushed herself back up once more, checked, came back down. "On your right, by the vegetable stands." She whispered. Daniel nodded and crept around part of the counter, spotting the two agents and letting three shots out. They went down. 

"I'm sorry for the things I said to you during the interrogation. Daniel began, readjusting himself to be a little bit more comfortable. "I was angry, I'd been duped. I used to pride myself in my ability to read people and a situation well, and my professional pride had been hurt, so I felt...anger. With myself, with you, with the whole situation. But that doesn't make up for how I treated you in there.

"Daniel come on. You were doing your job. Mind you, yes, you'd messed up, but you were doing your job. You were the one who connected the dots after all, you didn't mess up that much." Peggy retorted as she tilted her head towards him and smiled, getting a small smile from Daniel in return. 

"Regardless, I'm still sorry. I just felt..."

"Betrayed?" Peggy finished. Daniel looked away from her and became engrossed with the gun in his hand, and she could feel the shame as it rolled off his body in waves. "Hurt?" Nothing. "Played?" 

"Yes." 

"Well, again, to be fair, you ...were." Peggy sighed and dragged one of her hands over her face, wondering how they'd gotten into this mess at that moment. "I'm sorry too Daniel." 

"You have nothing to apologize for." Daniel replied sharply. "You were doing the right thing and we were all too dense to notice it or comprehend it. You owe us nothing. If anything, we owe you an apology, our first borns, and a lifetime supply of Ritter Sport items." Peggy looked at him, surprised. "You eat them a lot at your desk. I've seen the tins." Peggy blushed and then suddenly her gun was fascinating as well. 

"Well, you are more observant than you thought, wouldn't you say Daniel?" Another smile from the man and Peggy started to feel better about the situation. He's smiling. Not as bad. "I still feel like I should apologize though." 

"Why?" An almost deafening explosion could be heard outside and Daniel felt her tense up next to him. "You should run Peggy, the grenades are getting closer, more soldiers are coming near and..." 

"I'm not leaving you." She replied as she checked her gun, probably to see how many bullets she had left.

"Carter that's crazy. I'm just going to weigh you down. You should run. I'll distract them..."

"I told you I am not going to leave you and that is final Daniel." She said it in such a tone that no argument could be broached upon it, so Daniel sat back down, taking in the momentary, eerie, awful silence. 

"Why do you feel like you need to apologize to us?" Daniel repeated. 

"No, not all of the SSR, just you." Peggy corrected as she slowly got up from where she'd been sitting, and offering Sousa a hand. "Pretty sure I saw the entrance to the apartments upstairs, let's go. We'll have a better vantage point from up there." Daniel nodded and took her hand. They said nothing as the ascended the stairs and found an empty apartment facing the street. Peggy swung the rifle she'd been carrying on her back around and to the front of her, and propped it on the windowsill while Daniel sat on the other side of the window to provide backup. Nothing was said for another twenty minutes as they shot  and were shot at, during the fight. 

"Peggy, fourteenth floor, just to the left of the middle window." Daniel whispered, nodding towards a sniper in the building across from them.

"See them." Peggy replied, nodding. One quick shift and...that was that.

It went on like that for another hour before they were certain the area was clear. Why the remaining Leviathan had fought so hard despite already losing was a question Peggy would wonder for ages. Now most of them were either captured or dead. 

She found him, hours later, sitting on the chair behind Dooley's old desk, and once again felt the pang of sadness that had been coursing through her, in and out, throughout this whole ordeal. 

"I never understood why he agreed to hire me. I'm not sure it was entirely so I could be a secretary and maid." Peggy commented as she entered the room. Daniel was still looking tired and lost, and she couldn't really blame him. She sat down on the chair across from him and they sat in silence for awhile before she spoke again. " You'd make a good chief." She didn't know where that had come from, but it hadn't felt like a lie either.

"I'm not really chief material. I'm more of a follower than a leader, as my mom always used to say." He had been looking at a shattered picture frame in which a photo of Dooley's family still remained. This whole new, awful war was throwing more than a wrench into the happiness of the people. It was throwing a grenade. 

"Well, you're mother is full of rubbish then, because I think you'd be great." 

More silence. 

"Why me?" Daniel asked all of a sudden, just as Carter was starting to admittedly nod off. It'd been a long seventy two hours. 

"Sorry?" 

"Earlier in the shop you said I was the only one you felt the need to apologize to. Why me?" 

"Oh. Well... I like you Daniel. You're a good agent, you're smart, and despite what I said in the interrogation room, I know you respect me. You're one of the few who listened to me before this whole thing started. And..." Peggy smiled at him "...a little bird told me you were the first one to believe me after I told my story." Daniel felt a bit of a blush rising and Peggy laughed. 

"Yeah, well, I think a part of me always did believe you, I was just fighting it." 

"I thought about stopping you know. Very briefly, but I thought about it." 

"What?" 

"When you asked me not to run in the alley, I thought about stopping." Peggy admitted, picking up the name plaque from the desk. "I think...I don't know if I would have really, but if anyone could get me to do so, you're on a very short list of people who could." 

"I'm flattered." 

"Oh indeed, as you should." Daniel rolled his eyes at this and she laughed again. 

"Dooley told me he trusted my gut and Thompson mocked me." Daniel began, earning a curious look from Carter. "When I told Dooley I trusted you after you told your story. Dooley eventually said he trusted my gut and Thompson being Thompson was an ass." 

"What did he say?"

"He implied that the only reason I decided to trust you was...the only reason I decided I could trust what you were saying and back you up on it was..." Wow, this was embarrassing. He felt like a child again, confessing his undying affection to the girl who later dumped him for a boy down the street who wasn't so poor, so sad. She made him feel like a child. 

"Because you like me? In more than a friendly way?" Daniel had heard of people wishing the ground would just swallow them whole, and always thought it overdramatic until this moment. "Daniel..." 

"It wasn't the reason." Daniel said quickly. "I believed you because I knew, logically, you had no reason to lie, not when you were almost free and ..." 

"Daniel..." Peggy leaned over the desk and put a finger to his lips, shushing him. "...it's alright."

"It's embarrassing." Daniel muttered, despite her finger still being pressed against his mouth. Peggy ignored the tight feeling in her stomach at the feel of his lips moving against her finger. 

"Well yes, that too." Peggy said honestly, before letting her hand drop. "Not as much as you'd believe though."

"What? Why would it...oh." Daniel blushed "But why though? What kind of gal would go from Captain America to a crip with a crutch? It doesn't make sense. You must have high, exacting standards..."

"I do." Peggy agreed. "But let me tell you something Daniel, I started to fall for Rogers before he was transformed into the Captain America the country knows. I didn't fall in love with the shield or the biceps or any of that. I fell in love with the man. This young man from the boonies of Boston who had a strong moral compass and a willingness to give up his own life to protect others. I fell in love with a man who knew right from wrong, and despite being thrown literal and figurative punches, in the end he always did the right thing. I fell in love with that man, and that was who Steve was before the injection. I fell in love with the man, not the legend. Which is why what you just said was utter nonsense. Yes, I have exacting standards, but those standards aren't what most people seem to believe them to be."

"I'd like to hear more about Steve Rogers. The one you knew, not the one everyone else knew." Daniel offered after the appropriate moment of silence had passed. 

"Do you now? Now will this be an interrogation or casual wonder?" Peggy asked, smirking. 

"Why would it be an interrogation? I think it's been proven that I'm awful at interrogating you." 

"Well, isn't it customary for new suitors to interrogate a girl about her past suitors to see what they'd be up against?" Peggy had walked around the desk, took the arm of the chair, and gently pushed it, forcing him to turn with the chair to look at her. His face was bright red and he was definitely flustered.

"New suitors?" Daniel repeated, stunned. 

"Yes, new suitors." From the tone of her voice, Daniel could tell she was enjoying this. She had bent down to fiddle with his tie, which he had undone when he sat down, feeling as if he couldn't breath. "I will tell you about him either way. You're a better interrogator than you think." 

"I...I..." Peggy leaned down even more, so they were eye level, extremely close. Two inches...

"Yes Daniel?" Peggy could practically hear his heart beating faster and faster, and while she knew she shouldn't be enjoying this as much as she should have, she didn't entirely care. 

"C-can I walk you home?" He blurted out, and Peggy tried hard not to laugh. It wasn't working too well.

"Why Daniel, I have no home remember? I was kicked out of the Griffith. Ms. Fry isn't one to change her mind." So so close now. She could feel his breath and he could feel hers, and it was just so so tempting... 

"Would you like to stay with me?" Oh holy , he did not just say that. Peggy smirked again, her lips just barely grazing his with the movement. 

"Why Daniel, how scandalous. What would people think? We are't even engaged to be married." She teased, still slowly leaning into him. He relaxed a bit and Peggy could feel the air shift, her eyes brightening at the idea of living with Daniel. 

"I have a spare bedroom."

"People talk." Peggy countered, still excruciatingly close. 

"People will always talk." 

"The guys will find out." Peggy added. 

"So?" This seemed to be the answer to the question Peggy had been waiting for because she closed the tiny gap between them and kissed him soundly. They had a long long way to go, several things to work out, but both of them had a good feeling about where things would go with them, even then. After  a minute, Peggy broke the kiss, thrilled when she heard his grunt of disapproval. This was a bit new, a bit different. She was ready for different. "I was under the impression we'd been having a nice enough time there..." 

"We were, but if I am to stay with you, I need to try and sneak into the Griffith and get some of my things back from my old place. And give Angie an explanation. Give me your address and I'll...see you at home later?" Daniel's smile widened and he nodded. "Brilliant." Daniel found a pen and paper, and wrote down the address before giving the paper to her. "I'll see you at home." One last quick kiss and she was gone.

It was time for everyone to start a new chapter of their lives, and Peggy Carter and Daniel Sousa were starting theirs together. 


	13. Vulnerable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're all exhausted, beaten down, remorseful, and the fact that she had been able to fall asleep was a blessing in disguise because he didn't think it was possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Prompt from EJ "Daniel watches Peggy sleep." .

* * *

 

To put it in the most simplest of terms, the battle with the Leviathan drained them all. After everything was said and done, all Sousa wanted to do was go home and sleep for the next week, but he knew it wouldn't be possible. He knew the nightmares would creep back and he'd wake up in a sweat, unable to go back to sleep.

It's interesting, what kind of things will trigger a person. 

It had been a grenade, not a landmine, and this time, no one got hurt, but the sound, the _sound_...

His falter after being triggered almost cost him his head when he was being shot at by a Leviathan agent. Thankfully Peggy had been close by and told him to duck before shooting back. It had been a bloodbath, something he hadn't been to keen on seeing again. Back up had been called in, people were lost, buildings were destroyed, and  lives of the living ruined. He had been given the awful task of going to Dooley's family and telling them the news. Telling a family their loved one was dead was never easy, and it had been even harder this time around. Even split up, Dooley's wife still fainted and then when she woke up she cried, and he tried to console her but didn't quite know how. Your husband died a hero? He loved you very much, he wanted us to tell you that? How would that make them feel any better? Hero or not, Roger Dooley was still dead, a woman lost her husband and kids lost their father. What had been worse was that he had to make three more stops after that to give the same message to three more families. 

What was the point of the SSR if they couldn't even protect their own agents? 

He doubted the SSR would be around too long after this. This situation had been handled so badly, he was surprised they were even trying to pick themselves back up. Peggy had been right, it'd been shoddy police work.

A shift nearby caused him to come back to the present and see Peggy shifting around in her sleep, trying to stay comfortable on the couch they were currently resting. He was sitting up and she'd laid down, grabbing a pillow and telling him she was going to try to get some sleep before the next onslaught of questioning from the government. 

She looked peaceful, or rather, she looked like she wasn't about to pull her gun or knee someone in the gut, for the first time since he'd met her, she wasn't on edge. It was a different look for her and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. He was glad she was sleeping because she needed it, but it was so...unusual, to see her like this. Relaxed, somewhat peaceful, not on edge...

Vulnerable. 

That was why it seemed so weird, she looked vulnerable. Peggy Carter was not a vulnerable person. She didn't let many people in and seeing her with her guard down was as odd as it would be to see Thompson skipping around in a pink tutu. 

He wondered what her childhood was like, what little Margaret Carter did during summer holidays in England. What did she play when she played? Was she into princesses and princes or pirates, or knights? Something told him she'd be more of a pirates or knights type of girl. Did she eat her vegetables and drink her milk or did she turn her nose up at them? He remembered that she would have grown up during a time when England was still picking up the pieces from WWI and realized her family would probably have felt elated to get fresh vegetables and milk. Odd how some circumstances change one's outlook on life and food. 

Things in the United States hadn't been any better, and then the Depression hit. He saw mothers get into fist fights and fathers in full on brawls that sometimes ended in gunfire, over bread or milk or even a few limp stalks of celery. He'd almost been beat up at school when he had managed to get fresh food from a vendor on the way there. Things had been desperate back then, and they still were now. Nothing changed. 

A thunk, and the pillow she'd been using fell to the floor. He didn't know how to reach for it without waking her up, so he compromised and gently shifted over, lifted her head, and let her use the part of his leg that was still flesh, as a pillow. He had to wonder how it was she could sleep after all this. She had seen plenty during the war as well, how was she not having nightmares? Because she was stronger than him, Daniel reasoned. She probably saw enough to ruin anyone, but she was strong enough to push it down and away. Unlike him. 

 _Stop it_. The voice in his head, that sounded oddly like Peggy, hissed. _You are strong. Being scarred from the war doesn't make you weak, it makes you human_.

He still felt insignificant. 

He wondered what his future would hold now that the SSR would be dissolved. He was sure it would be, they couldn't continue after this. An office job maybe, at an actual telephone company. That would be irony at it's best. He wasn't sure if he'd continue on being an agent of the government in any form, not when he and the government had failed the people so spectacularly. 

He resisted the urge to jump when he felt an arm brush against his leg, and saw that one of Peggy's arms had slipped off the couch in her sleep. For the first time since this whole thing began, Daniel wondered what the future would hold in regards to his relationship with her. Not in a romantic or sexual way, but in terms of how their friendship would pan out. He'd said some awful things to her in the interrogation room and she'd said some awful things to him after, she'd lied to him for six months, and he'd been the one to arrest her and bring her in. He had been the first to believe her after she told all and gave up the blood sample and she saved his life more than once in the ensuing battle. 

Their relationship was not normal. 

_"Enough to respark that torch you've been carrying for her?"_

God, Thompson could be such an unrepentant dick.

He would be lying to himself if he said that he didn't still have feelings for her. That's why this whole ordeal, finding out she was the blonde, bringing her in, all of it, had been so...heartbreaking for him. He had a thing for a traitor, as he had believed at the time, and yet he still liked her. Even when he was in the interrogation room with her, yelling at her, seething with anger, he still felt something for her. He'd felt betrayed, duped, and all because he was just so damn transparent about how he felt about Peggy Carter. 

Again, so he had believed. Except in a way, he had been, but it was his own damn fault. 

"No, please don't. I can't lose him too!" Peggy was talking in her sleep, and from the tone of her voice, Daniel guessed she was having a nightmare. So Agent Carter did have nightmares after all. Interesting. She was dreaming about losing someone, a man or a boy, him wasn't a very descriptive word. Probably Rogers. He cringed.

_"No gal is gonna trade a red, white, and blue shield for a crutch."_

Daniel always tried not to speak ill of the dead but wow, Krzeminski could also be such an unrepentant dick. He knew his chances with Peggy were slim to none from the beginning. They'd been right, she'd never look his way, especially since he fell so short of her first love. Who could compete with Captain America?

"Please!" This time she sounded even more panicked, scared, no...terrified. What was happening in that dream? "Please no! Not him! " She started to fidget and that's when he became worried. The dream must be getting violent.  Plus, it sounded like she had been begging. Peggy Carter does not beg. 

"Peggy?" Daniel gently shook her shoulders, but snatched, or attempted to do so, it back when her arms started thrashing. She caught his arm in a vice like grip, tightening it more and more as the seconds passed. 

"You aren't taking him, do you hear me? I can't lose another person I love, I can't! You aren't taking him!" 

What the ...

He could feel the circulation in his arm begin to stop and had to figure out how to wake her up without permanent damage, but it wasn't looking too good. 

"Peggy!" He shouted, trying to get through. With his other arm he shook her shoulders harder, but still to no avail.

"You can't! Don't you dare! Don..."She screamed and suddenly she sprung up in a sitting position, wide awake, sweating, and breathing heavily. Still having a grip on his arm, she had yanked him to a semi laying position next to her, and he'd never felt so confused in his life. "Wha...what? What happened?" 

"You were having a nightmare." Daniel explained from where he was awkwardly smashed against the couch. "Peggy, could you please release my arm?" Peggy looked down, seeing his arm still in her grip, and released it quickly. 

"I'm ...I'm sorry." She looked at him with an intensity that made him shift a bit where he was sitting. She looked...relieved.

"Are you alright Peggy? What was the nightmare about? You kept talking about how you weren't going to 'lose him too'. Were you...were you talking about Rogers?" Peggy was still looking at him, a bit amazed, and then shook her head.

"No. Not Rogers." She replied before getting shakily up on her feet. She took her coat from the other end of the couch and turned towards him. "Want to go to the L & L Diner? I'm pretty sure it wasn't destroyed and I'm absolutely famished." Daniel nodded, confused, and followed her out of the office and out of the building onto the sidewalk. He couldn't help but notice her right arm looping through his left, or the way she walked close to him, her to the left of him as if she were...

As if she were guarding him.

He'd been the person she had had a nightmare about losing. Sure enough, a car backfired and her arm would tighten, and he noticed her continuously checking where her gun holster must have been under her coat. Someone discovering some carnage still around after the battle, screamed, she'd quicken her step. Anyone remotely suspicious got to close to them, she would tug him away. He wondered if she realized she was doing all those things, or if she was doing them subconsciously, and he figured it was a combination of both.  She didn't let go until they reached the diner, and even then, she stuck closely to his side. When they sat down, he saw Angela Martinelli walk over to them, see him, give Peggy a look, Peggy smiled and nodded, and Angie shrugged before taking their drink orders and going back behind the counter. 

He wasn't sure what  was happening, but a small part of his heart was feeling a bit of hope that maybe his future wouldn't be so awful after all.

 

The End.


	14. Daniel Sousa vs. The Howling Commandos (Round Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He'd been trying to work up to courage to pop the question for months now with no luck. He even brought the ring with him during a mission, which, to this day not even he understands why. Why was asking this one question so difficult?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This prompt is from bartyns "Sousa has self esteem issues, so asking Peggy to marry him has been difficult. Then, Peggy does it herself."

* * *

 

He didn't understand why this was so difficult. Surely this should not have been this difficult. When his friend James proposed to his gal Mary, it had not been this difficult. Unless of course, James had lied when he told him the story later. But he doubted it. 

It should _not_ be this difficult, should it?

It's just four words strung together, with a questioning tone at the end. It shouldn't be this difficult.

So why, he asked himself, had he carried the ring around for months _and_   brought it with him on their latest mission overseas if it wasn't so difficult?

"So, is that dame over there ah, associated with anyone?" Daniel looked up from the papers he'd been studying to see where the the man, an American working for Scotland Yard who'd been assigned, along with some others, to help S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Howling Commandos on a case, had been pointing. Peggy. He'd been pointing at Peggy.

His Peggy. 

Well, it was more like he was _her_ Daniel rather than she was _his_ Peggy, but the point still stood. 

"Yes, Wolkowski, she is associated with someone, as you so delicately put it." Dugan muttered, his annoyance of the man increasing every day. Wolkowski had said a few wrong things, rude things, the first day they'd met, and landed himself an unfortunate permanent home on Dugan's shit list. Ever since, everything the man said or did gave Dugan a look that by now, Daniel knew well; Ten seconds away from punching the lights out of this asshole. Thankfully, Daniel'd never been on the receiving end of this look, but he'd seen Dugan give it to enough people to know that that was a blessing. 

"Ya sure?" Good god, now he was chewing gum so loudly the engine of a plane couldn't have drowned it out. Daniel could feel the dirty looks being given to the man, he didn't even need to look up from the file to know. 

"Yes, I am sure. Leave it Wolkowski. She isn't interested and could kick your ass two ways to Tuesday." Wolkowski's s seconds in Dugan's mind had been shortened, Daniel was sure, to four instead of ten. He was wondering if Dugan would snap today. He'd kind of enjoy seeing the man punch Wolkowski out. It would relieve the monotony of the past few days of pouring over files. 

"I bet I could sway her." Dear god, he never gave up did he? Dugan set the file he'd been going over down on the desk he'd been given temporary use of, and looked at Wolkowski, his face expressing a calm that he knew was a bad, bad sign. Maybe they'd get a show after all.

" _Sway_ her Wolkowski? What makes you believe you can sway a woman like Agent Carter? She'd a thousand steps above your league, is the director of one of the most influential and renowned spy agencies on the planet, and was a personal friend of _Captain Rogers himself_. Do you really think you're that impressive that you could sway a woman like that away from her _current affiliation_ , as you so eloquently put it?"

"Well I'm a good lookin' guy ain't I? I have all sorts of dames fallin' over me round here. Especially when I tell them I work for Scotland Yard. An American man, charmin' like me, working for Scotland Yard? Girls are putty."

"This is no girl you're talking about here Wolkowski, it's a woman. One of the most influential women on the planet. You need to be a quality man to be even remotely good enough for her, and even being a quality man isn't enough because she deserves nothing but the 100% absolute best. So I don't see how it is you think you can sway her. You have the wrong personality type, you're cocky, a jerk, you have zero respect for your peers or the sacrifices made during the war. You may come from money, but that money bought out a position during the war so don't even pretend you know what it was like. Peggy has no time for people who are as arrogant and boorish as you are." Wough. Forget a punch, that had been the verbal version and it was even better. Wolkowski was fuming and bright red. He got up from where he'd been perched on Dugan's desk, and glared at him. 

"I'll prove it. I'll go over there and ask her out to dinner. You'll see, I'll turn on the charm and she'll be putty I tell you. Putty." Dugan and Daniel watched him fast walk over to where Peggy had been going over something with Jones and the chief of Scotland Yard. 

"Five pounds says she slaps him." Dugan muttered to Daniel, who laughed.

"Five pounds says she socks him." Daniel replied. Dugan, not taking his eyes off the scene that was unfolding, reached his left hand over the two desks they were at and they shook on it. There was annoyance on each face at being interrupted by the man, and Jones gave him his own 'I am going to punch your lights out.' glare, as Wolkowski pushed him out of the way not so subtly and leaned against the bookcase next to him. Daniel saw Peggy tense over that, as well as the chief, and wonders if Wolkowski would just get straight up fired. That would be a relief. 

A minute of very uncomfortable conversation followed, the entire time Peggy looked bored out of her mind. When Wolkowski actually ran one of his hands through his own hair, it looked like she was stuck between laughing and wanting to shoot him. As he droned on, Peggy looked their way and, upon seeing the repressed laughter on their faces, she mouthed 'I hate both of you.' which made them laugh. 

Five minutes later, Jones had gone to get himself some coffee and the chief walked over to join Daniel and Dugan, pulling a seat over and watching it all unfold. 

"Any bets going on?" Chief Harper asked when he pulled his chair over next to Daniel.

"Daniel has five pounds on her sockin' him and I have five pounds on her slappin' him." Dugan replied, not looking away. 

"I'll get in on that. Five pounds says she socks him."

"You too?"

"Me too." 

"Wait, wait for it..." Daniel said, seeing a shift in Peggy's posture and a look pass over her face. They couldn't hear what they were saying but didn't need to. Her posture said everything. "...wait for it..." Wolkowski leaned closer to her, she tensed again, and...

BAM right to the floor he went, punched by one Director Margaret Carter in the middle of an office at Scotland Yard. The entire office fell silent and stared, until someone from the back piped up "God, finally someone did it." and everything went back to normal. Wolkowski got up, angry as ever, and the chief, seeing a possible issue, shouted at him to go home, he was in trouble for harassing a superior, and he stormed out of the office, swearing and angry as ever. Peggy picked up the stack of files she'd been holding before, walked calmly over to the desk she'd been using, and put them in the briefcase she had brought on the trip. She sat down, opened an address book, and started dialing the phone. 

"I take it he tried to ask her to dinner?" Chief Harper inquired. Daniel and Dugan nodded, which made him laugh. "Yes, he tries that with the women here constantly, they all reject him. His 'I got women falling all over me.' act is just that. No one likes him because he's a repetitive arse. He's very old fashioned in some ways, he isn't very up to date on his thoughts on strong women in the workforce, which is a shame. His family is rich, which is the only reason he got the job. They funded a renovation of the offices and help us purchase weapons and other things like riot gear."

"He wouldn't have gotten far even if he was nice." Dugan commented, side-eying Daniel with a smirk. Daniel blushed slightly. He and Peggy hadn't really told the Howling Commandos that they'd been together for awhile. It hadn't really come up and there had been no reason for it to come up in the times they'd gotten together for missions. Yet somehow, Daniel was pretty sure they knew. He thought so when Dugan told Wolkowski Peggy was taken, although at first he thought he'd been saying it just to make Wolkowski drop it. 

"Oh? Yes, Agent Carter is a strong, independent woman. She doesn't need anyone to protect her." the chief commented. Dugan nodded, smiling. 

"Yes, that's true. But what I meant was that she's already...with someone." 

"Oh really? Who?" the chief asked, interested. "Oh lord, listen to me, I sound as gossipy as my thirteen year old twin daughters. I apologize." Dugan waved his hand in an 'it's fine' gesture. 

"It's all good. I'm not entirely sure to be honest chief, just something about how she's been actin' the last few times we've met up." The chief nodded in understanding.

"Yes, yes, there is a way to tell when you are close to the person isn't there?" Chief Harper looked at the clock and sighed. "I better get back to work, it was nice talking to you fellows. Dugan, you still owe me and Daniel five pounds each. Pay your debts man, dear god." He walked away and Daniel couldn't help but laugh. 

"So," Dugan began, going back to the files he'd been studying earlier. " when you gonna pop the question?" Daniel choked on the coffee he'd been drinking and looked at him, his face he was sure, red as a tomato.

"I...what?" Daniel asked, grabbing a handkerchief from his pocket and cleaning the part of the desk he'd spit on. Dugan laughed. 

"When you proposin' to Carter? You two have been together for what, three years now? You love her, she loves you. When you proposin'? Or did you two decide against marriage? Which is fine you know, but you strike me as the marrying type." 

"I..." Daniel sighed, biting his tongue and considering how much to tell the man. " ...I've been trying to the past few months, but every single time, something either comes up or I chicken out. And I'm starting to wonder if it's a sign." 

"A sign? A sign of what? That you two shouldn't get married? There's nothing wrong with remaining unmarried, damn what the press says. We're coming into modern times you know and..."

"A sign that we shouldn't be together at all." Daniel elaborated, and Dugan looked shocked. Daniel blushed and looked back at his file, unable to look Dugan in the face anymore.

"What on God's green earth makes you believe you and Carter shouldn't be together? Man, I thought you were smart. Have I been lyin' to people when I say I work with two smart agents from America? Cuz if I am, tell me now so I don't continue to make an ass of myself."

"Peggy's from England." Daniel quipped, making Dugan roll his eyes.

"You know what I mean, smart ass." 

"I mean... what you were saying earlier to Wolkowski, you were right. Peggy deserves nothing but the best of the best. Someone who isn't...broken. Someone better. Someone who was more handsome and didn't feel like every time he went out with her, people were thinking 'Really? That lovely lady is out with that joke of a man? She could do so much better!'. Someone...better. She deserves someone better than me." 

"Does Carter strike you as the type of gal who would be with someone if she didn't want to be with them?"

"Well...no."

"And does she strike you as the type to go on a date with someone out of pity?" 

"Well..."

"Oh don't tell me you think she only agreed to go with you because she pitied you, because that is a serious insult to her and her judgement of people." Daniel winced and Dugan sighed. "Look, Sousa, I like you. You're a good guy, you're an excellent agent, you are more than worthy of her. Besides, let's face it, she chooses who she's around, not the other way around, not these days. If she didn't like you she'd tell you. Or punch your lights out like she did Wolkowski."

"How do I compare though? How do I even come close to what she had before? Peggy went from America's hero to a crip with an honorable discharge on his record because he went and got his leg blown off by a landmine. It seems like a massive step down if you ask me, and she deserves someone as great as she is. And I don't add up. I see it in almost everyone's eyes. And I get it. Me and Peggy? We don't make any sense." 

"Are you saying you don't think she loves you because you aren't like Captain America?" 

"I'm saying I don't think she loves me enough to settle for me when she had the best already." 

"So you're saying you don't think she loves you because you're not Captain America." Dugan repeated. At the ashamed look that passed over Daniel's face, Dugan felt his own sadness creep in. This poor bastard, he didn't get it at all. " You remember that one mission last year when we were in Spain and you gave yourself up to the guards so we could all get away, like you did during the war? Yes, I read your file." Daniel nodded. "Remember how dangerous that mission was? How well armed the guards were, how many booby traps there were in that fort, how easy it was to set one off and then have to haul ass to avoid getting killed? Remember what a death trap that was?" Another nod. "Remember how time sensitive that mission was? What was at stake?" And another. " Remember how we essentially got you back from the guards less than thirty minutes later?" And _another_. " And you know how Carter is. Mission first, always finish the mission, screw the excuses, especially since we experienced that snafu with the girl in Russia?" A slight nod, realization, Dugan hoped, settling in. " Remember how we told you when we came to get you that we got word through the coms that the drop off had been delayed and we had more time? That was a lie. She refused to leave without you. She didn't even set foot out of the fort. She stopped at the entrance and said 'I'm not leaving him here, I'm going back.' and literally sprinted back down the hall , gun in hand, screw the safety precautions, to find you. Carter risked getting killed by a trap and failing a very time sensitive, important mission because you had been captured. She literally risked everything to save you. We tried to talk her out of it, no offence, you seem to me like someone who could hold his own so we weren't worried, but there was no stopping her once she'd set her mind to it. I'd never seen her fight as viciously and dirty as she did when getting to you. It was like some protective instinct got kicked into it's highest mode, because that woman was on a war path that day. She even knocked the guy we got your location out of out with the butt of her sniper rifle. He lived, but there was no way he didn't have a very very bad concussion after that. You didn't see her outside your cell but you probably heard a lot of commotion, hard things smacking against other hard things? That was also her. She didn't let up on her protective state until we were all safely on the plane. And even then she refused to move  away from you until we got back to safe ground." Dugan picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, then set it back down, staring at the liquid inside. "I don't know about you Sousa, but that doesn't strike me as the actions of a woman who isn't in love with the person she did all that for. Especially for an agent like Carter. She's willing to bend the rules, branch out, fight dirty, but you didn't see her when we came to get you. That was a side of her I've never ever seen, and I've known her for almost six years. If that isn't love then I have no idea what love is." Dugan looked at the clock and breathed a sigh of relief. "Quitin' time. I'm tired and I just want to go back to the hotel and sleep for ten hours. I'll see you tomorrow Sousa." Daniel nodded at him, and Dugan, before walking away, paused and added "She may not need anyone to save her, but when you aren't looking, I've seen her look at you like you were her light in pitch black darkness. Like you were the only person on this planet. Like you were her savior, but not in a physical sense I guess, in a mental sense. Don't downplay how much you mean to that woman, because that would be a fatal mistake." 

A couple hours later and it was quitting time for Peggy and Daniel as well, and Peggy came over to his desk , her expression and posture instantly relaxing when she got closer.

"Where do you want to go to dinner? Or do you just want to pick something up at that market near the hotel and eat in the room?" Peggy asked as they walked down the sidewalk outside. She laced her left arm through his right and held on tightly, partially due to the chill in the air and something else that Daniel hadn't been able to place before but now could; love and protectiveness. 

"How about the Savoy?" Daniel ventured, fiddling with the ring box in the pocket of his jacket on his left side.

"The Savoy? Fancy. Is it a special occasion? It isn't one of our anniversaries, surely. I have those memorized. Our third anniversary isn't for another month and..."

"No no, it isn't an anniversary." Not yet at least, he thought. "Just wanted to do something special."

"Ah. Sure. Let's go then." They decided to take a route that led them along the Thames for a bit, and walked in content silence for a few minutes before Peggy stopped , crossing the bustling road, dragging Daniel along, and looking at the water with a content smile on her face. "Let's just enjoy this for a minute yes?" Daniel nodded and leaned on the rail next to her, taking in the sight of the river and the boats gliding gently on the water. 

"It's beautiful." Daniel commented, mesmerized by the water, the boats, and the lights from the buildings on the other side of the river.

"Yes it is." Peggy agreed, moving closer to him and laying her head on his shoulder. "Daniel?" 

"Yes Peggy?" 

"I love you." 

" I love you too Peggy." 

A few minutes more of silence and then...

"Daniel?"

"Yes?"

"Will you marry me?" As if predicting his initial reaction, she had wrapped her arms around his left arm and held on tight, her head still on his shoulder, a smirk on her lips. Daniel started a bit, shocked, as he should be, by her question.

"I...I...aren't I supposed to ask you that?" 

"Well you've been taking your sweet time over the last few months and while I love you dearly, it's getting a bit old , thinking you're about to do it and then not going through with it. I'm ready to be married to you Daniel Sousa and you are  taking too long."She said it as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet, as if it were the only thing on the planet she cared about at that moment, as if he were the only person she cared about in that moment. 

"You...you knew?" That earned a famous Carter eye roll, and he had to admit it was deserved. He thought he hadn't been that transparent, but now, thinking back on it, he supposed he had been. 

"Yes, love, I knew. Each time. And each time, I'd smile and my heart would be racing and I would be so excited, and so ready for all of it. For telling Angie, showing her the ring. Starting our wedding plans in between meetings and important cases. I have been ready for awhile now Agent Sousa, and I'm afraid my patience has worn out. So I'm asking you, Daniel Sousa, will you marry me?" 

"Ye-are you sure?" The look Peggy gave him was a cross between pure confusion and annoyance, one he knew all too well, and he instantly regretted his question.

"What kind of question is that Daniel? Of course I'm sure. I wouldn't be proposing to you next to the River Thames on a busy side walk at..." she looked over at Big Ben to see the time " Eighteen thirty in the afternoon, if I wasn't sure. Daniel, I love you. I love you more than anything else in this world and I want to marry you. I'm positive about this. I've never felt more sure about something in my entire life than I am about this right here, right now. So what do you say?" She was looking at him with an intensity that would floor anyone, and indeed, if she didn't have such a tight grip on him, and if he wasn't leaning on the railing as he was, he was pretty sure he would be on the ground now. For the first time in the three years they'd been together, he  truly accepted it, that she loved him as much as she did, that he deserved to be loved with the intensity that she was showing right at that moment, and it was, for lack of a better descriptive, life changing. He had felt loved before, there was no denying that. But loved with an intensity that would make marrying not only the next obvious step in their relationship, but the right one, and that she was really all in on their relationship, that was something he'd never been sure of before. He was now. "Daniel?" He hadn't realized he'd been quiet for too long, but now her expression was that of worry, sadness, doubt. And he felt his heart clench. "That is...unless...unless you've changed your mind. I mean... Oh god, that was stupid wasn't it? I've ruined everything, I've..." Daniel cut her off with a kiss more intense than their first, which had topped the scales in intensity itself, pulling her as close as he could, trying to convey everything he was feeling in that moment through it. When they broke apart, Peggy was breathing heavily and smiling. " I'll take that as a...yes?"

"Yes, of course it's a yes Peggy. How could it be anything else?" 

"Damn right." Peggy sniffed, earning a grin from Sousa. "I still want that ring in your pocket though Sousa, you aren't getting out of that." Daniel blushed and Peggy laughed, tugging him along and restarting their walk to the Savoy.

The next day, when they walked into the office and Daniel sat down at his desk across from Dugan, his face was flushed and his tie slightly askew, Dugan grinned like a mad man.

"So, how was your night last night?"

"Interesting." Daniel replied, trying to look as nonplussed as possible. Dugan turned to see Peggy talking to Harper, and caught a glint of silver off her left hand. 

"I bet. And how was the walk over here this morning?" 

"Very interesting." came the second reply. Dugan laughed. 

"Hey Sousa?"

"Yes?" 

"You've got some lipstick ala Carter still on your neck." When Daniel turned as red as a beet, Dugan let out a whoop of laughter that silenced the entire office and had everyone, including Peggy, staring at him. As Daniel frantically cleaned his neck with the handkerchief he kept in his pocket, Dugan mouthed 'Good job.' to Peggy, who blushed herself.

There was no way in hell he was letting either of them live this down.

 

The End.


	15. A Bad Sort Of Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She finds him at the bar they frequented, and sees him a few too many times before she realizes something is wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Prompt from missbuster "Sousa and addiction (Alcohol or drugs.)". I went with alcohol.

* * *

 

Peggy finds him at the bar they frequented, and sees him a few too many times before she realizes something is wrong. 

It isn't unusual to see soldiers at the bar every day, especially in the situation they're in. It isn't an ideal way to deal with it, but for some it's their only way. Peggy tries not to judge anyone. They're going through hell, and deserve to deal with it as they see fit (Short of killing someone that is.). No, seeing him there as a soldier wasn't unusual at all. But there was something different about him that she just couldn't place, that made his constant appearance at the bar feel so...wrong. 

He looks like a soldier, which sounds silly because of course he's a soldier. You can't exactly pinpoint who does and does not look like a soldier, except maybe with Steve, but then he was one even before the serum, so looks still meant nothing. No, it wasn't that he didn't look the part, it was just...

He looked so wrong there, like he wouldn't be in a bar usually , it was a new occurrence, and he dove into it head first. She rarely saw him with anything less strong than a whiskey or bourbon and he had the distinct air of someone who lost their soul. They all did. It broke her heart to see so many men she was sure wouldn't normally drink, in this bar, shaken and feeling soulless because of what the war had done to them. She saw Steve and Bucky drinking with the Howling Commandos, and they were drinking to forget sure, but they were also drinking to celebrate. They were alive, another successful mission, another win. 

Not so with this man. 

Something about him drew her eyes to him every time she was in there and he was there as well. Which he usually was. 

He didn't always sit alone, but when he did he talked to no one else in the bar except the bartender, and even then it was short, courteous, and too the point. No chit chat. The men he sometimes drank with must have been his troop. 

It wasn't until two weeks after she took notice of the man that she found out what set him apart from a lot of the men that came into the bar. She'd been keeping an eye on him throughout the night, dividing her attention between the nameless soldier and the Howling Commandos and Steve, and he was already on a worrisome sixth whiskey when the incident happened. She'd wonder for years afterwards if her intervening was a good or bad decision, but at the moment it seemed the most logical and obvious one. 

She didn't know why she hadn't seen it before, the signs seemed rather obvious afterwards. He was jumpy, twitched at every sound, never let anyone touch him or come within two feet of him, one night when a bomb nearby knocked out the power to the club, he had a death grip on the table when candles were lit and she could see him, guys got in a brawl and beer got spilled on him, he shot up from his seat and ran out of the bar. 

He'd been tortured. 

A fight broke out, again, between four extremely drunk soldiers and it was getting bigger and bigger. Steve, Bucky, and the Commandos all tensed up, prepping to get up and break it apart. There had been fights before but this one was particularly nasty. It broke out at the bar counter and moved to the back, where the man sat. He looked up from his whisky, watching the fight with curiosity, and wondering, she was sure, if he should bother getting up or if the men would avoid his corner. 

"Crap." She heard Bucky mutter under his breath, before he put his glass down and got up and took his jacket off. "Watch  my beer, don't drink it or I'll sock you. This is about to get really really ugly. 

"More than it already is?" Dum Dum would make that astute observation.

"Yes, more than it already is. If it reaches the guy in the corner, things will get extremely ugly. Wait here, all of you." Bucky rushed over to the corner, slipping past the brawlers just in time to block the table the guy was sitting. When Peggy gave Steve a questioning look, Steve sighed and set his own glass down. 

"He...before they took Bucky to be tortured, they were working on that guy over there. It was some messed up form of torture, not that all forms aren't messed up but this was especially sick, they would waterboard him, have men go at him with guns while he was strapped down to scare him, leave him in pitch black rooms with recordings of fights and people dying, the works. They'd yell at him, electrocute him, force him to watch them burn bodies or mutilate others. Told him his only way out of it was to fight his way out, that they wouldn't stop until he either did that or died. After a while, they ventured to give him a gun when the guys attacked, to see if he'd do it, if he'd shoot to save himself. He refused each time. Got beat pretty bad because of it. They were trying to turn him into something he...wasn't... until one day Bucky, who had been in the cell next to him and would talk to him when he was brought back, made them take him instead. He's obviously out, but apparently one night he almost crushed someone's skull because of a reflex reaction he'd gotten from the torture. Bucky's been keeping track of him since we got back from the prison, he's worried. He says he's become an alcoholic since his return, made sure he knew what tent he was in, managed to find his troop, told them to keep an eye on him. Apparently before this he'd never touched alcohol. Now he's never seen without it. His friends keep an eye on him but..."

"Ow, son of a bitch!" They all turned to see that Bucky's attempt to block the man had only half worked. The group had dispersed, but someone must have said something, because the other man was up and standing next to Bucky, panting, fists raised like a boxer. "You'll pay for that you son of a..."

Peggy had no idea what compelled her to do what she did next, but there was just something about this man that drew her in, made her want to protect him, assure  his survival, as if it were necessary to the way her world was flowing that he stayed in the world as well. He was important.

He needed to live. He absolutely had to live, beyond a shadow of a doubt.She knew Bucky was more than capable of handling the situation, and the man wasn't helpless either, but she just felt so...drawn to the situation, the man. 

"Give me your gun Jones." Peggy said suddenly, surprising everyone.

"Why do you need my gun Agent Carter?" Jones asked, understandably confused. 

"I won't fire it or lose it don't worry, just give me the damn gun and hurry. I know you keep it on you." Peggy hissed, Jones, mildly surprised, handed over his army issue gun, which Peggy took, hopped off her stool, and all but ran to the other side of the bar. With a swift kick to the back of his knees and an elbow to another man's jaw, Carter had one of the offenders on his knees, gun pointed at his shoulder, the other trouble maker on the ground swearing, and a glare for the other two. "Listen here, I'm tired and angry and less than amused by your _behavior_ here gentlemen." She said the word behavior with venom that could kill someone if it were possible. " I recognize the numbers on your uniforms, in fact I recognize most of you from basic training. I know exactly who you report to and you'll be damn sure I'll report this to not only your commanding officer but also Colonel Philips. You are disgusting human beings, and I never want to see you in this bar again, do you understand?" When the man on his knees tried to laugh it off, she pressed, ever so gently, the gun a little more into his shoulder. "Don't test me. You'll be dishonorably discharged if I shoot you in the shoulder. Where I'll do it you won't recover for months, and with this report on your file you'll be finished. Do. Not. Test. My. Patience." She hissed. "Get up, apologize to everyone in this bar, and get out." The men scampered out of the bar, Bucky took a hold of the still nameless man's shoulder and told him he was taking him back to the camp, to which the man numbly agreed to. Before they left, Peggy caught Bucky's arm and whispered. "When you get to the tent, find his stashes and pour all them out. Tell local stores and other soldiers to not sell him any booze or even trade. I don't want to see him drinking again." Bucky nodded and walked away with him.

When Peggy returned to the table, everyone, including Steve, had an expression halfway between amazement and terror on their faces, which, she admitted to herself, made her happy. 

"Here, told you I wouldn't fire it or lose it." Peggy commented, handing Jones back his gun, he took it, nodding and still in shock, before coughing and suddenly becoming fascinated by the peanuts in the bowl on the table. 

A week later, Peggy asked a newly returned from mission Bucky if he'd seen the young man from the bar, and the face he made at the question made her heart sink. 

"His troop got ordered to a section about forty miles east of here to take out a battalion recent intelligence says is trying to sneak up here."

"What...what are the chances for survival?" Why was she so worried about this man? She wasn't in love with him, she was...she was in love with Steve, that much she'd accepted. So why did she feel like this one random man was so important?

"Well, I mean, against the battalion, with the new additions to his troop they'd probably make it out with minimal loss but..."

"But? But what  Barnes?" She really hoped that her hurried, panicked feeling wasn't coming across on her face, but from the look on Bucky's she knew it was.

"They have to go across a field with landmines...a lot of them. It's not difficult to spot them in that particular area usually, but it being winter and the snow on the ground..."

"Right...right. Okay." Why, dear god, why was she so upset? This made no sense.

"Are you alright Carter? I'm sorry about ...I shouldn't have told you, I didn't know you cared about him..."

"I don't...I mean... I don't even know him, but I..." Peggy put on a mask of indifference and straightened out her shoulders, building the wall back up. "I'd just hate to hear that the young man I saved from getting beaten to death died a week later because of a landmine. It'd be a bit of a blow to my ego." Peggy knew that was a lie, and somehow she had a feeling Bucky knew that as well. Bucky nodded, frowned, and then turned around and walked away.

When she saw part of his troop on V-Day, sans the young man she'd been so interested in, she felt her heart sink to the deepest depths. Losing Steve had been a blow she wasn't sure she'd ever get over, losing Bucky had been a blow as well, and somehow, losing the young man she didn't even know made it even worse. She still couldn't fathom, over a year later, why this man meant so much to her. But that day, she picked up a black band for her arm, and when asked about who she'd lost, she said "Three good men who died before their time." 

So imagine her surprise when, almost two years after that, she walked into the Boston office of the S.S.R. and saw...

The young man from the bar. Alive. Confusion set in until she saw that he sat at his desk rather stiffly and then she spotted it, a crutch. When Dooley led her to her desk, the young man looked up, a warm, welcoming smile on his face, and greeted her. 

"Hello, I'm Agent Sousa. Daniel Sousa." He greeted, holding a hand out to shake hers. "Pardon me if I don't get up. Got part of my leg blown off in the war and the prosthetics are a pain in the ass to deal with." So he didn't recognize her. There wasn't a reason for him to, but she felt, oddly enough , a pang of sadness at the lack of recognition. That was however, overshadowed by the mysterious elation she felt at seeing him alive. So he hadn't died in the field, he'd been sent home after getting his leg amputated. 

"Agent Carter. Peggy Carter." Peggy returned. 

"It's lovely to meet you Agent Carter." 

"Alright, get to work." Dooley grunted before walking away. Peggy sat down at her desk, looking at the back of Sousa's (Sousa, Daniel Sousa. She finally had a name.) head and wondering if maybe, just maybe, there was going to be a new, happier chapter of her life about to start, and involved that man.

Rubbish, she shook her head to try and clear it. That was rubbish, stuff you'd hear from fake psychics at carnivals.

And yet...

 

The End. 


	16. And Baby Makes Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Peggy and Daniel, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a tiny Carter-Sousa in a baby carriage!" 
> 
> "Shut up Angie." Both Peggy and Daniel said it so perfectly in sync, Angie's laughter could be heard all the way to the Jarvis' house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is a combo of a few prompts, two from mutents ("Peggysous with little Carter-Sousa." and "The birth/prep for the baby.") and a Tumblr prompt from claras-wintersoldier "Their daughter's first date and how Peggy and Daniel react to/handle it." .

* * *

 

Peggy wasn't what you'd call a dramatic person, not really, not in the sense the public thought of what qualified as dramatic. She was an agent with the government, she literally kicked butt, she ran the best spy agency in the world, it was her job. She dealt with danger and espionage and back stabbing on a daily business because, again, _it was her job_. 

Which is why she glaring and tapping her foot in apartment Angie shared with her beau David, and creating quite a sound while her friend tried and failed to not laugh and react so loudly to her news, was not dramatic. It was not.

"Oh my god, English, I just...I'm sorry but wow."

"It isn't funny Angie." She hissed, grabbing a nearby chair, pulling it over, and sitting down hard, wincing, and noting that her left hand automatically shot to her torso. 

"No no, of course not." Angie commented, taking the other chair. "I know it ain't funny, but it sure is ironic." She grabbed a pitcher from the table, filled a glass, handed it to Peggy, and then filled another for herself before she leaned back in her chair. "I mean weren't you two sayin' just last week that pregnancy would just cause problems? You talked about it right?" 

"Yes." Peggy replied, setting the glass on the table and frowning. "It isn't that we don't want children, a family, all of that, it's just..."

"It's too dangerous considering what your jobs are." Angie finished, a sympathetic look on her face. Peggy nodded. 

"I mean what kind of parents would we be to bring a child into a world where we know everything is not alright and danger is at every corner? That what the schools and theaters will tell them about it all being alright is a lie? We wouldn't lie to them either, we won't tell them it is alright, they deserve to know what to look out for. The war might be over for the world, but it isn't over for the people in the know. And what if...what if one of us dies? What if we both die? What if Daniel and I go on a mission after the child is born and we don't come back? We want you and David to be the godparents by the way." Angie smiled and nodded her consent. "We know you guys would love the child as much as we do and they would be alright with you but it's cruel to grow up without your parents, and this job..."

"Aren't you like, the boss of everyone? And Daniel's your second in command right? You can just stay in the office." 

"Yes, but what if a mission called for us specifically? There are some things only we can do, both authority and skill wise and connections..."

"Alright, alright, I get what you're sayin'." Angie waved one of her hands to make her stop and sighed. "I get it, I do. But that don't mean you shouldn't get the chance to be parents. I've watched you two over the years and I know you want kids. You two are transparent, it shows. You didn't strike me as a child havin' type when we first met, but now? Now I know you want a kid, and so does Daniel. And now you have one, or rather, you have one growin' inside you. I know this must be scary for the both of you but you should give it a shot. I think you'll be great parents. There needs to be a kid around to hear about your adventures."

"To collect those Captain America trading cards that are still going around and gloat that their parents knew him." Peggy added.

"To hear Daniel read a book and do all the different voices he does, and the weird shadow puppets he's so fond of." Angie supplied.

"To be spoiled by their Auntie Angie and Uncle David." Angie smiled at that. 

"And they will be at that. Oh god, Stark will have a field day. That kid's gonna want for nothing with an honorary uncle like him." Angie commented, laughing at Peggy's 'Oh no' face. 

"Everything will be alright." Peggy said finally, after they had been sitting in silence for a few minutes. Angie nodded in agreement. 

"Yeah, you and Mr. Agent Man will make good parents. You'll be fine. The kid will be alright. Hell, Stark'll probably insist on a security detail for them. That kid will have it made."

"Oh god, I still haven't told Howard and Maria." Peggy winced and rubbed her forehead in anguish. "We went to one of the med bay doctors just yesterday to confirm. I've only told you so far, and Daniel said he told David last night when they met up for drinks. Howard will be mad I didn't tell him right away. For someone whose always gone on business trips he is very involved in all our lives." Angie laughed and Peggy smiled. Things would be alright.

..............

They were all sitting on the couches in one of Stark's living rooms at his mansions. Peggy was, by then, visibly pregnant, and while grumpy, she was still insistent upon going to social gatherings, as long as it was a small affair and had people she knew. 

"You know, " Angie began, swishing the bourbon in her glass lightly " after that whole incident with those Russian people, I had a feelin' you two were already a thing. You came into the diner a couple of weeks later and you looked pretty cosy." Daniel blushed and coughed, and Peggy suddenly was entranced by a lamp on the small table next to her. Angie's eyebrows shot up. "In fact there were times when you two were leanin' pretty close into each other. I thought you'd bump your noses together like in that one movie that was released this year, what was it called David? The one with the dogs, the cartoon." 

"Lady and the Tramp." Angie lit up with recognition.

"Yeah yeah, Lady and the Tramp. You two see it?" When Daniel and Peggy shook their heads, Angie winced. "Right, right, you two were in England again with the guys on that thing when it was runnin' in theaters. Well there's this scene where the two main dogs are eating this spaghetti and meatballs dish, and they both chomp onto the same strand of pasta, absentmindedly chewin' at it until they meet in the middle and they're like, a centimeter away from each other. It's very cute. When I saw it, I was reminded of how you two were that night. Very close. Maybe not a centimeter apart but very close." Daniel was now the shade of the burgundy drapes on the windows behind them, and Peggy was close behind. Angie was enjoying this a little too much.

"I...well... we weren't...I mean..."Daniel stuttered, he actually stuttered. Angie was very happy at that moment.

"We...it was...it was just dinner and drinks, we..." Peggy tried but failed to get much further than her husband did in the explanation and even David was smiling, reserved man he was. Howard was smirking and Maria had the kind smile she had when she watched the people she loved interact with fondness. 

" I mean it was...it was our first date." Daniel finally got out, his face back down to a small blush. "We...it's...Angie's exaggerating, we were not..." Angie rolled her eyes and leaned forward in her spot on the couch next to David. 

"Oh but you were Mr. Agent Man, you were. You even got some disapprovin' looks from old ladies at other tables." 

"Oh my god." Peggy hid her face behind her hands and tried not to laugh. "I didn't think we had been that obvious that early on." She said through the muffle from her palms. 

"You were." Angie supplied. 

"If I remember correctly, you told me you stayed with Daniel the whole night when you took him to the hospital after that Midnight Oil got to him and he took a swing at you." Howard added, Angie grinned at him and nodded. 

"All night?" Daniel looked at his wife, stunned. "I ...I didn't know you'd stayed there the entire night, I just figured you had come earlier that morning before I woke up." It was Peggy's turn to blush redder than the drapes, looking at her hands intently before turning her head towards him. 

"I didn't... I wanted to make sure you were alright and I didn't trust the hospital staff to treat you the way you should should you wake up and...you know."

"I wouldn't have killed them...alright I might have killed them if I got free, that drug was powerful. I see what you mean." Daniel replied, nodding in approval. 

"No, it ...it wasn't that. I... I didn't want them to have you shot or something equally fatal." 

"Oh..." Daniel took her hands in his and smiled at her, his expression loving and warm. "...my very own guardian." Peggy smiled back and blushed a bit. 

"Oh my god, you two are straight out of one of those romance films, it's both adorable and oddly sickening." Angie snarked, although her expression was one of love and happiness for her friends. "You know what this reminds me of right English?" 

"No I don't, what does this remind you of Angie?" She immediately regretted saying this as the smirk on her friend's face widened and she knew this couldn't end well. For Peggy that is.

"Peggy and Daniel, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a tiny Carter-Sousa in a baby carriage!"

"Shut up Angie." Both Peggy and Daniel said it so perfectly in sync, Angie's laughter could be heard all the way to the Jarvis' house.

"So, you two need anything for the nursery?" Maria asked, nestling closer into Howard, who had put his right arm around her shoulders, and tightened it when she moved closer. If you'd told Peggy Carter-Sousa back in 1943 that one day Howard Stark would be happily, faithfully married to a lovely woman such as Maria, she would have believed you mad. Now though, now it was perfect, normal, natural. He was finally happy, at least in this respect. Maria had been good for him. 

"Ah, well we're still deciding on things." Daniel replied, smiling warmly at his friend. "We decided to make everything neutral, even after the child comes. But we think..."

"...teddy bears, little trinkets that shine in the light to amuse the child, paintings, wooden furniture. We were thinking a deep purple for the walls." Peggy finished. 

"That sounds lovely Peggy." Maria replied in agreement. "Tell me or Howard if you ever  need help getting anything and we'll be more than happy to help, wouldn't we darling?"

"That we would." Howard picked up his drink, smirking. "That child will get spoiled by his Uncle Howard and Aunt Maria, just you wait." Angie looked at Peggy in triumph and mouthed 'I told you so.'. 

..............

Months later, after a long, 24 hour labor, little Angela 'Angie' Colleen Carter-Sousa was brought into the world, much to the amazement and love of her parents. 

"She's perfect." Daniel breathed, staring at the bundle in his arms. He held her close but not too close, being careful not to jolt her or Peggy, whom he was sitting next to on the hospital bed. 

"She really is." Peggy agreed, just as amazed by the baby as her husband was. Peggy offered one of her fingers to the sleeping bundle, and felt a thrill shoot through her when little Angie's tiny fingers wrapped around her finger and held on. "God, how was the world functioning before her?" 

"I don't know Peggy, I don't know." Angie stirred in his arms and Daniel went completely stiff. Don't wake up the baby, whatever you do, do not wake up the baby...

"Stop tensing up Daniel, her waking up won't end the world. I know I'll regret those words later, but for now, just enjoy this moment, enjoy the situation. Let's just bask in the glow of how lovely our daughter is and brag to each other about how amazing she is and will be in the future." 

"I'm sorry, I'm just...nervous."

"I am too Daniel. Hell, I'm terrified. But things will be alright. I can't say that it will all run smoothly, there will be bumps along the way, but we'll be excellent parents. You will be a wonderful father..."

"And you will make an outstanding mother." Daniel interrupted. Peggy smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss. 

"This child already has at least a dozen people who love her more than anything else in the universe and she's barely a few hours old, she's lucky. Everything will be alright." 

"Oh god." Daniel exclaimed out of no where after a couple minutes of silence. 

"What's wrong?" Peggy asked, concerned.

"What about when she starts dating? Can we put a restriction on that? How about thirty. She can date when she's thirty." Peggy laughed a full, joyous laugh, making Daniel blush, and she kissed him again, a little more lingering this time, before  laying back down against the pillows on the bed. 

"Fourteen." Peggy offered.

" Eighteen." Daniel countered.

" Fifteen." Peggy  was enjoying this battle of wills, Daniel could tell.

"Sixteen." Daniel altered.

"Agreed." Peggy kissed him again before leaning her head on his shoulder and watching her daughter in awe. "Daniel, please don't be cleaning one of your guns when she brings the poor soul in to meet us."

"I was just about to say the same thing to you." Daniel quipped. "We both know out of the two of us, you're more likely to do that."

"You're right." Peggy agreed. "Fine, neither of us can be cleaning any guns when she brings whoever it is she chooses as her first love to the house to meet us."

"Deal." Daniel kissed the top of her head, and a few minutes passed before he spoke again. "You're going to be cleaning your pistol from your days with the army won't you?"

"Damn right I will be." Peggy replied. She enjoyed the feeling of the rumble of his torso as he laughed, the warmth coming off of him and the joy of having her daughter in front of her. Yes, things would be alright.

..........

It's years later, Angie is sixteen and going through the terrors and joys of being a girl her age. They live in a nice house behind gates, (Courtesy of the Starks and the need to have security for the top people of S.H.I.E.L.D. ,  "It's a security thing Peggy, you and Daniel are top brass. You need the security." had been Howard's excuse when he brought Peggy, Daniel, and a four year old Angie to the new house and handed them the keys as soon as he unlocked the front door. Peggy had learned by then that fighting him on a topic like this would be useless, and besides, Angie adored the big yards.) and she and Daniel still worked at S.H.I.E.L.D. . 

Things hadn't been easy, they rarely were, but sixteen years later, they're all still going strong and she and Daniel are still alive. S.H.I.E.L.D. had grown exceptionally and was now running like a well oiled machine. Peggy wasn't in the office as much as she used to be, but neither was Daniel, both opting to be more present in Angie's life, rather than overly obsess over the organization. 

They told her the truth about everything when she was seven. She took the news remarkably well for a child her age, and took her swearing to secrecy very intensely. To the world, Angie Carter-Sousa's parents were war vets who worked as ambassadors of sorts, and sometimes worked overseas (Which worked well when Daniel and Peggy did, in fact, have to go overseas for missions.) One day, a teacher was giving her trouble for saying in one of her reports that while Colonel Chester Philips might be a revered and well respected soldier, praise of which she agreed to fully, she knew for a fact that he was afraid of spiders and enjoyed collecting Kewpie dolls.  Her teacher was berating her after class when Colonel Chester Philips himself walked into the classroom, his gruff, disapproving, ever present expression firmly in place, and glared at the teacher. 

"I thought you said you were going to meet me outside in the courtyard Angie. Your mom will skin my hide if you're late for your piano lessons with Mrs. Stark." Philips grunted, looking at the girl with affection, or as much affection as the man could express on his face. 

" I was, but Mr. Casen here was berating me for lying."

"About what?" Mr. Casen had grown silent when Philips had walked in, completely dumbfounded by seeing a man he'd only heard stories about before, in his classroom. 

"Saying you are afraid of spiders and collect Kewpie dolls." Angie commented, rolling her eyes and grabbing her book bag. 

"Well that's silly." Philips grunted again, turning to the other man. "What's wrong with being afraid of spiders or collecting Kewpie dolls son?" 

"N-nothing sir." Mr. Casen squeaked. 

"Damn right." Philips turned to Angie and his expression softened again. "I don't want to hear about you saying anything bad to my honorary niece here you hear son? I can make life difficult for you. Come on Angie. Your mom called the office today, says your dad finally found that landmark, says you'd know what that meant." 

"I do and that's great!" Angie replied, beaming. "See you tomorrow Mr. Casen!" 

A month or so later, Angie came home from school, a young man in the car with her, looking terrified. (The young man, not Angie.) She stopped him at the door to the house, turned around, and took a deep breath. 

"Now I don't think either of them will actually shoot you, but just so you know, they will probably be polishing their old service guns in the study to freak you out. I wouldn't worry about either of them. Papa is a sweet man and so is Mama. You don't have to worry about ei...actually you know what, both of them are not to be messed with, or so I hear. I'd be ready to run if I were you. You can outrun dogs right?" Angie turned back around, grinning when she heard the boy loudly gulp.  She liked the guy, she really did. She wanted this to work out, but she just _could not_ resist messing with him. "Mama! Papa! I'm home! I brought Jeffrey with me before we went on our date so you could meet him, just like you asked!" 

They found her parents, predictably, in the study. Peggy was sitting behind her desk, and Daniel behind his, surprisingly sans guns. Daniel had been reading a book and Peggy had been writing something, and both put down their respective distractions and looked up kindly at the young man in front of them. 

"Hello Jeffrey, how lovely to meet you. Angie has told us quite a bit about you." Peggy commented sweetly, signalling to her daughter that she had something much more terrifying than cleaning old service guns in mind for this boy. 

"Yes, she's been quite vocal about you. It's been Jeffrey this, Jeffrey that, oh Papa, did I tell you what Jeffrey did today at school? It was so wonderful!" Daniel added. 

"Papa!" Angie gritted out, her face turning red. Daniel and Peggy laughed at the look on their daughter's face.

"We're just having some fun Angie dear, it's a right as a parent. Now you said you were going to a drive in right? With a few other couples? It'll be cold out tonight Angie, I'd grab your coat or that cloak your Aunt Angie got you for Christmas last year." Angie nodded, knowing her mother was just getting rid of her so she and Daniel could interrogate Jeffrey. She hoped the poor guy would live through it, it wasn't entirely unheard of to die from embarrassment she was sure.

"Alright Mama." And with that, she left the room, and the Carter-Sousa's were alone with Jeffrey Jones.

"Jeffrey Jones, any relation to Gabriel Jones? Angie mentioned yours was an army family." Daniel began, signalling for the boy to sit on one of the settees in the room. He did so, quickly, and sat up straight as a beam. 

"Yes, he's my uncle." Jeffrey replied. Dear god, he was already sweating. 

"I thought so. We talked to him just last month and he mentioned he had a nephew in our area of Massachusetts. We just weren't sure if you were the same one he spoke of. Although the school you and Angie attend is usually exclusively army family based." Peggy commented. "Would you like something to drink Jeffrey? We have water, tea, I believe we also have Dr. Pepper if you're so inclined." 

"I'm good, thank you Mrs. Carter-Sousa." 

"Alright Jeffrey, you're a smart child, you know why we wanted to be alone with us. Do you want us to just cut the pleasantries short and get right to the Parental threats?" Daniel asked, leaning back in his chair, fingers laced over his stomach.

"That would be appreciated sir." Jeffrey squeaked, he actually squeaked. Peggy smiled, this boy was wonderfully endearing. 

"Alright then." Peggy began, "Here's the thing Jeffrey, Angie might not be our only child..."

"...we have a son too, his name is Eddie, I'm sure Angie's talked about him before..." Daniel continued, the speech clearly planned. 

"...but Angie, Angie is our first child, she's our little girl. It doesn't matter how big she gets, she'll always be our little girl..." 

" ...which is why we're going to issue a special threat to you, not that we won't have a similar talk to whoever Eddie brings home one day, but this is our first time doing so, so..."

"...it'll be extra potent." Peggy and Daniel's synchronization was  startling and beautiful. It was clear that they'd been together for a long time and fit together perfectly. 

"We're well connected people Mr. Jones, your uncle could tell you that as well." Peggy began again, not taking her eyes off the boy.

"We'd never hurt you but we could make your life hell." Daniel continued. 

"You ever been to Tuscon, Arizona Mr. Jones?" Jeffrey shook his head. "It's practically in the middle of no where. Almost no phones, it's hot there, dry..."

"Or there's those fitness drills that the school likes so much, those can be a real pain I hear." 

"It'd be a shame if you somehow ended up on the list of students to go through it every month now wouldn't it?" Jeffrey nodded his head vigorously at this, making Daniel smile. 

"We aren't terribly cruel people Mr. Jones, not to innocent people. But if you hurt our daughter in any way..." 

"We'll not only have you on that list for your remaining time at the school, but also, we'll have you working at an elementary school in Tuscon faster than you can say 'Agreed.' " Peggy and Daniel grinned at the look of horror on his face. "Do we have an understanding Mr. Jones?"

"Yes, yes we do." His voice was still a bit shaky, but less so, Daniel noted with amusement. 

"Jeffrey? You still alive in here?" Angie asked, walking into the study wearing a black peacoat. 

"Yes." Jeffrey squeaked. 

"Was it awful?"

"N-no, it was fine, your parents are just looking after you." Jeffrey replied, shooting up from his seat and speed walking over to her. Angie raised an eyebrow at her parents, who shrugged and tried to look innocent. Rolling her eyes, much like her aunt Angie, she smiled.

"We'll be back by eleven."

"Ten." Daniel countered.

"Ten-thirty." His daughter looked at him defiantly. It was moments like this where she was so much like her mother it was like looking into a mirror. Being faced with that expression more times than he could ever count in his time with Peggy, he knew he would deny his daughter nothing.

"Fine, ten-thirty." He acquiesced, getting a smile from his daughter. She kissed both him and Peggy on the cheek and hugged them, before joining Jeffrey again at the door to the study. 

"See you later Mama, Papa." she waved, and they waved back, watching as she disappeared down the hallway. 

"Wow..." Daniel said after ten minutes of silence.

"Indeed." Peggy agreed, getting up from her seat and walking over to his desk, holding out a hand to him. "What do you say to a little date night at home? With the house empty, Eddie spending the long weekend at the Starks to visit with everyone and learn how to do all those things I'm sure we won't approve of from Howard and Edwin, we could..."

"Why Mrs. Carter-Sousa, that lead on sounds so scandalous!" Daniel commented in faux shock, taking her hand and grabbing his crutch as he got up.

"Not yet it isn't darling, not yet." she whispered into his ear, revelling in feeling  the goosebumps on the skin of his neck, and the shiver run through him. She could still do that to him after all these years, and he to her. 

"If you're sure we don't need to worry about..."

"We don't." Peggy cut in, weaving their hands and fingers together, pulling him even closer. "It just so happens that Angie and David will be at the drive-in tonight with the twins." She said it so calmly, as if she were discussing the weather, that Daniel almost didn't register the meaning of her words. 

"You didn't..." Daniel looked at her in awe.

"Didn't what, darling?" Peggy asked, a fake innocent look on her face. She was undoing his tie, quickly from years of practice, occasionally stopping to kiss him on the lips or on his neck, making him grunt. 

"Peggy, I thought we agreed no...ohhh never mind, don't stop doing that. She'll be fine. Jeffrey is a good kid, I trust Jones' word on that." Daniel finally agreed, grabbing Peggy by the waist and making her squeal and detach from his neck. "Bedroom?"

"Bedroom." Peggy agreed. 

The next day was Saturday, and Peggy, Daniel, and Angie were all at the dining table, absentmindedly eating their food and chatting. 

"Papa...is that a hickey on your neck?" Angie asked, her face looking horrified. Peggy looked smug, and Daniel blushed. 

"You were fifteen minutes late last night." Daniel countered, becoming very invested in cutting up the bacon on his plate. Angie blushed and closed her mouth, also enthralled, very suddenly, by the food on her plate. Peggy couldn't help but laugh at her family. 

Yes, things ended up working out very well indeed.

The End.


	17. Worth The Hassle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel was being barraged by several emotions at that particular moment; smugness because of the look on Thompson's face, dread because he knew how much more he'd be teased/harassed now when he came in, embarrassment for himself and her because this was not how they'd planned it, and most of all...relief that now everyone knew and he could stop lying. Not that he minded much, but he wanted to be able to proudly talk about his girlfriend without referring to her as 'some gal I know'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: EJ's prompt "The guys at the SSR give them grief when they find out Peggy and Sousa are going steady.", because it's cute and I've been sitting on this one because I want to do it justice, and I've been trying to figure out how to pull this off.

* * *

 

To say that things were chaotic during the 'rebuild' of the SSR would be like saying WWII was just a fight. Revisions to policies, safety procedures, lab procedures, raids, arrests, everything was rewritten. Security tightened up even more, and the girls up front were even given guns and lessons on how to shoot them. (The fact that they'd agreed to come back at all was a miracle in of itself.) Several government officials reviewed what happened, and they were watched like hawks for weeks after. Peggy Carter was dividing her time in between the newly formed S.H.I.E.L.D. and the S.S.R., revelling in giving Thompson orders when she was there on S.H.I.E.L.D. business, damn the consequences. 

On this day, Peggy had come into the office on S.H.I.E.L.D. business. Officially she was there to deliver information on a recent joint mission between the two agencies, unofficially she was there to snag Daniel away from the SSR, having just convinced Philips and Stark the night before that he would make a good asset. 

"I've seen his record. He's admirable." Philips had commented when she brought it up at their meeting. "You've told me quite a lot about him and his involvement with the Leviathan case. I'm impressed." 

"Hell, even I liked him. Even though he pointed a gun at me." Stark relented. 

"Yes, because you were a wanted fugitive." Peggy snapped, glaring at Stark, who just shrugged. "And still hadn't been cleared."

"I'm just saying." He sniffed, indignant, and Peggy rolled her eyes. 

"So, what do you say?" Peggy asked, after watching Philips take one more look through of Daniel's file. 

"I say yes. He'd make a good asset and agent. Are you thinking a liaison or full time agent?" Philips inquired. 

"Well is a liaison necessary with Peggy still working part time at the SSR?" Stark asked, and even Peggy had to admit it was a good question.

"Full time agent then." Philips had a tone that he used when something had been decided, when there was no room for argument and he'd made up his mind. That was the tone he'd used for the sentence, and Peggy felt a certain amount of smugness at the finality of it. "You're dropping off that report to that Thompson fella tomorrow right? Tell him tomorrow that we're taking Sousa, then bring Sousa here for briefing and his security clearance badge and paperwork, show him around. I'd ask someone else but he knows you and I have a feeling it would be an easier transition." Peggy nodded, beaming.

"Yes sir, I'd lo... it sounds like a good plan." When she risked a side glance at Stark and saw him, eyebrows raised and smirk firmly in place, she wanted to smack him and blush at the same time. 

"Good. Meeting over then? I want to get home and go to bed, it's been a long day." 

So today she walked into the front office for the SSR, briefcase in hand, a certain spring to her step, greeting Rose warmly and stepping through the entrance to the main offices looking like she'd won the lottery. 

"Hello fellas." She greeted with a somewhat mocking salute when she walked past the several desks in the office. Several of them, noticing  a change in her they couldn't place, looked up and followed her movements through the office. She went straight to Daniel's desk first, planting both hands on one corner of the desk and leaning forward. "Daniel, pack up your desk." She commanded, a broad grin on her face.

"What...why?" Daniel asked, understandably confused. 

"Because you're having a change of scenery." Peggy commented, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "You are going somewhere where people will actually show you some respect and give you credit where credit is due." She reached across the desk and stole his still steaming cup of coffee from him, looking at him straight in the eyes as she took a sip. "You, Agent Daniel Sousa, have been approved to join S.H.I.E.L.D. . What do you say?" 

"I...does Philips know about my leg?" Peggy nodded. " Stark approved this?" Another nod. "Their okay with one of their agents being disabled?" Peggy rolled her eyes and set the coffee cup down on the desk, just within his reach. 

"Yes, they are more than okay with it Daniel. Your record is stunning, your test scores are through the roof, your insights are invaluable...you're being wasted here and they know that. I know that. You know that. So what do you say?" Daniel sat back in his chair and studied her expression, trying to, she guessed, decide if she was messing with him. "I'm not messing with you Daniel, this is a very real offer." 

"Carter! You here to work or are you here on S.H.I.E.L.D. business?" Thompson walked out of his office, the authority he was trying to give off making him look more comical than intimidating. He looked annoyed, although for what reason Peggy couldn't entirely fathom. Daniel knew however, and tried very hard not to smirk. He'd probably been watching them from in his office and didn't like it when Peggy lingered so long at Daniel's desk. Despite everything that happened, and her rather brusque dismissal of his fairly large number of dinner offers, it looked like Thompson still held a torch for Peggy in his own way. 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. business." Peggy replied in a clipped, no nonsense tone, still turned towards Daniel at his desk. "So, what's your answer Daniel?"

 

"Answer to what?" Thompson interrupted.  Peggy gritted her teeth and turned her head towards him, an expression of pure annoyance on her face.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. business." She repeated. "As in, at this moment, it's none of yours." 

"That's no way to talk to a supe..."

"You are no longer my superior officer Thompson. The only reason I still work here part time is because you need the people and the connection and you know it. So kindly drop your attitude and wait. I'm still talking to Agent Sousa here." The entire office went silent at this, and everyone's attention was now fixed on Sousa's desk. Thompson was fuming but said nothing. One could quite possibly hear a pin drop on the floor, it was so quiet. "So?"

Daniel felt a bit awkward at that moment. Here he was, sitting at his desk where he'd intended to do paperwork all day, and the entire office was now staring at him with rapt attention. He risked glancing at the men in the office, and felt his face reddened. Yep, all at attention, no chance of going back to what they'd been doing before this was over.

"I...yeah, alright." Peggy was positively beaming now and stole the coffee cup once again, taking another rather large sip before returning it back to the desk once more. 

"McDowell!" Peggy called to a young, red haired man who'd been standing in the corner next to the filing cabinets. "Could you get Agent Sousa here a couple of boxes for his things? He will be leaving today and needs to pack up." Thompson's face turned from one of fury to one of confusion and annoyance, and finally, he couldn't hold it any longer.

"Now see here, what do you mean he will be leaving today? What's the meaning of this Carter, have you gone bonkers? Is this...are you having...woman troubles?" Peggy visibly rolled her eyes, as she so often did when interacting with Thompson, and grabbed one of the two boxes McDowell had brought over, beginning to pick up odds and ends that she knew belonged to Daniel and putting them in the box. 

"Eloquent as ever I see Thompson. No, I'm not having woman troubles, Agent Sousa here now works for S.H.I.E.L.D., he was approved last night and he shall be starting today. He just agreed to this generous offer and will not be returning to this office, not as a member of the SSR at least. He will be going somewhere where he'll actually be respected and given jobs and cases that will measure up with his skill level. He will be given the credit he deserves for his accomplishments as well." Peggy gave Thompson a pointed, scathing look when she said the last sentence, and the man had the decency to look a tiny bit ashamed. 

"I don't approve of this." Thompson attempted, although even to himself his words fell flat. 

"That's too bad." Peggy retorted. "It's already been approved by Philips, we got a call in earlier this morning from the Vice President himself approving it. You're stalling Thompson, trying to ruffle feathers and failing. Really now, as the new leader of the Boston SSR office, you should be ashamed of yourself." Peggy closed the now full two boxes and turned fully towards Thompson, arms crossed, back straight, radiating authority. "Unless, of course... you want to tell Colonel Philips why you refuse to release one of the agents he himself wants for this new agency, thus going against orders not only from the leader of the entirety of the SSR but also your superior in terms of ranking?"

He was fuming again, and Peggy couldn't help but feel smug. No more would Thompson bully her or treat her badly, this was refreshing. She'd lost her want to care what anyone at this office thought of her, and it was a breakthrough she was loving.

"Fine." He replied through gritted teeth. "Do you have the latest on the Underwood case?" Peggy nodded and took her briefcase from where she had set it next to Daniel's old desk, opened it, and handed him a thick file. 

"Here you go Thompson. She was last spotted in California and believed to have gotten on a plane at an airfield there. She is being relocated as we speak." 

"Thank you." Thompson turned his attention to the file, and Peggy grabbed both boxes, giving Daniel a look when he started to protest. 

"Did you remember your father's inkwell?" Peggy asked casually as they walked out. 

"Yes." 

"Your medicine bottles?"

"Yes." 

" That lovely cross the elderly woman from down the hall made you? The clay one painted silver, you said you were going to put it in your desk drawer." Peggy asked again, going through, it seemed, a mental list. 

"Yes, I have the cross Mrs. Harta." 

"Horta, her last name is Horta, not Harta. Really Daniel, you've lived there for three years and she's been so lovely to you and..."

"Oh my ...yes, Peggy, Horta. I'm sorry. Meu Deus..." Daniel muttered under his breath. Peggy stopped, close to Ramirez's desk, who had, they believed, gone back to his work. Peggy kept her voice down. 

"Daniel! Don't swear! Especially when referring to some sweet old lady who took her time to make that lovely cross for you. It has your name on it Daniel, she took the time to write your name on the cross, and a prayer. She's eighty years old Daniel, you know how much concentration it'd take her to do that without her hands shaking? And they shake Daniel, I've seen them. "

"You swear all the time!" Daniel hissed, also in a low voice, half-heartedly glaring back at her. 

"Yes, but not while talking about sweet elderly women who took their time to make me something personalized even though she must have been in pain afterwards from holding her hand so steady!" At this point, Ramirez, unknown to Peggy and Daniel, had stopped reading the files and started to listen, amused, to their bickering.

"Have you heard Mrs. Horta when she is on a tangent? She swears worse than my S.O. did when we were in the field!"

"That doesn't matter Daniel, and yes, I have heard her swear. It's quite entertaining." 

"To you maybe, you haven't lived there three years." Daniel pouted. Peggy rolled her eyes and started to walk  again. 

" Well she certainly was on about something the other morning when I went to bring her back that stoneware pot you'd borrowed from her." She'd said it in what she had thought was a very quiet voice, but Ramirez heard, and sat up, leaning gently back in his chair, straining to hear more. 

"You went there at four thirty in the morning Peggy, she was probably swearing because you woke her up with your loud knocking." Daniel muttered. Peggy huffed. 

"I was up, and it seemed the right thing to do, and for your information Daniel, she was already awake and yelling at Mr. Horta when I came to the door." 

"Uh, Carter?" Ramirez finally ventured. Peggy and Daniel both halted and turned towards the agent, curious. 

"Yes, Agent Ramirez?" Peggy asked. 

"What," Ramirez began, loud enough that the others could hear " exactly were you doing in Sousa's apartment building at 4:30 in the morning? I couldn't help but overhear..." Once again the office fell completely silent. Thompson, now leaning on the wall outside his office and still reading the report, stopped reading and looked up, stunned. "Returning a pot he'd borrowed to an old lady no less." 

"I..." Peggy could not believe it, no, this was not happening. She'd just managed to get these men to show her some respect, laid down ground rules for what was and was not alright to say to her. This was not happening. 

But it was. 

"See we were... there was this stake out and..." Daniel tried, turning redder by the second.

"You haven't been scheduled for any stake out in months." Thompson supplied, eying him critically. 

"Well...oh god." If it were possible for her to hide her face behind her hands, Daniel knew she would have.

Daniel was being barraged by several emotions at that particular moment; smugness because of the look on Thompson's face, dread because he knew how much more he'd be teased/harassed now when he came in, embarrassment for himself and her because this was not how they'd planned it, and most of all...relief that now everyone knew and he could stop lying. Not that he minded much, but he wanted to be able to proudly talk about his girlfriend without referring to her as 'some gal I know'. 

But Peggy...oh god, the relentless looks and snide comments the men would make now. The suggestions that he'd only gotten this new job because he was going steady (very steady) with one of the founders...this could be a nightmare. 

"Carter, Sousa, there's a car waiting downstairs for you two and myself. I'd suggest you take those boxes downstairs, get in the car, and wait for me. I need to speak to these ...men, here." Both Peggy and Daniel turned quickly to see Chester Philips standing by the entrance to the office, looking as important and intimidating as ever. Peggy bumped her hip into Daniel's, nodded at the door Philips just came through, and the two beat a hasty (As hasty as they could with Daniel's leg.) retreat. "Now," Philips began, addressing the room. " I don't want to hear about any gossip, harassment, teasing, or all around no good words and actions coming from any of you over this news about two of my agents, because, to be quite frank, it's none of your business. It is also unprofessional to gossip about coworkers, especially..." he glared at Thompson "...ones who now out rank all of you in the pecking order of the government. If I hear so much as a word about any of you doing any of this, if I hear from some other person at S.H.I.E.L.D. or in the SSR talking about it, I will know you talked, and I will have every single one of you not only fired from your jobs here but have your bank accounts frozen, and any medal you may have won, any honor you got during the war, any piece of you that's earned you respect, stripped, taken away, demolished. This is now officially a S.H.I.E.L.D., secret, of which none of you have the clearance to know about in the first place, and punishment can go beyond what I have said for leaking any information you are not cleared for. Are we clear?" The entire room, including Thompson, nodded dumbly, looks of pure awe and horror on their faces. Philips sniffed, looking pleased, and turned on his heels to leave. "Oh and one more thing." he began again, turning to Ramirez "I was hear long enough to witness you snoopin' in on their conversation. The only time that is allowed is during stake-outs for intel gathering, do you hear me son? Do not listen in to personal conversations. It's unprofessional and tacky." Ramirez nodded, still looking like a deer in headlights. "Good." Philips marched out of the office, went down to the first floor, and slid into the back of the car waiting for him, next to Peggy and Daniel.

"May I ask, sir, what prompted you to meet us here?" Peggy asked, looking less flustered than before. 

"Oh I figured you'd run into trouble. Wasn't entirely sure what type, but trouble none the less. Those men can get riley. It isn't worth your time to try and deal with them. That's part of why you work for S.H.I.E.L.D. now. You're wasted here." Philips replied in that tone that mixed sentimentality and a hint of 'I thought this was obvious.'. Peggy smiled and laid her head on Daniel's shoulder, enjoying the comfort of her friend and beau. 

She had thought, after Steve had gone down in the water, that falling so madly in love again, the idea of a happy future filled with events that were worth making memories from, the idea of a normal (As normal as it could be in her line of work.) life, wouldn't be possible. Not with Steve gone. But now, as the car wound it's way through the Boston traffic to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, she knew it wasn't only possible, it was going to happen. 

And that was worth the hassle of dealing with those 'riley men'. 

The End. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Whoops, ended up more dramatic than I intended but I like it. :)


	18. So What About You And Sousa?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So, what's up with you and Sousa?"  
> "Sir, that's hardly appropriate to ask Agent Carter, would you please stop..."  
> "It's alright Jarvis." "So, what's up with you and Sousa?"  
> "Sir, that's hardly appropriate to ask Agent Carter, would you please stop..."  
> "It's alright Jarvis."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: No prompt, just cute.

* * *

 

She wasn't entirely sure now why she'd agreed to lunch at his house. She supposed part of it was the guilt she'd felt in hypnotizing and tricking him before, but another part was that she was in need of seeing him, her friend. She was still wary of all the actions he did and will do in the future, and she was still not entirely trusting him, but she could hold her own. 

To avoid as much scandal as she could, she dragged Angie and Daniel along, although she needed to bribe Daniel to do so. Angie was less of a fight to get to agree. Yes, she was wary, as she should be, of the billionaire, but her admitted curiosity of him and his home, made her agree in the end. Daniel took much more convincing. As in, a bottle of his favorite whiskey, first dibs on testing the newest S.H.I.E.L.D., guns, and the right to pick the movie the next five times they went to the movies. (Which, with their current busy schedule, could mean that that one could last for years.) It wasn't that Daniel didn't like Stark, indeed he's admitted to being rather fond of the man in the course of working with him over the last year, it's just that Stark made him tired, and gave him a headache when around him too long. (Something Peggy understood completely.) 

The lunch was lovely, and they retired to one of Stark's studies, whiskey in hand, and enjoyed the view of the gardens from the wide windows. Anna Jarvis came into the room, delighted to see Daniel, (Whom she'd met a few times before.) and thrilled to meet Angie, and insisted on giving them tours of her and Edwin's home, and the gardens she helped maintain, which left Edwin, Peggy, and Stark alone in the room. 

Peggy knew he was going to ask her something embarrassing, although exactly what it was she hadn't been entirely sure. Looking back on it now, she supposed she should have guessed. She'd noticed how much Stark had noticed her and Daniel during lunch. How they sort of leaned into each other, snuck food from each other's plates, the looks. Oh god, she thought they had been hiding it well, but now...? 

"So, what's up with you and Sousa?" Yes, there it was. Stark, fully reclined in the settee he'd plopped down on, whiskey in hand, looked at her, that Cheshire cat grin on his face that never boded well for his target. 

  
"Sir, that's hardly appropriate to ask Agent Carter, would you please stop..."Edwin, bless his gentlemanly soul, interrupted. 

  
"It's alright Jarvis." Peggy supplied, waving a hand to signal him to stop. "I can handle myself."

"I know you can Agent Carter, but he's being an ass." Edwin pointed out. Stark scowled at him and Peggy laughed.

"He's always an ass." Peggy countered, making Edwin smile. "It's part of his charm. What is it you apparently want to know about me and Sousa?" Stark glared, not loving being ridiculed, before sitting up. 

"You know what I'm asking about Carter." 

"I do, but I want to hear you say it." Peggy was the one who was smirking now and she loved it. Once again she had the other hand over him and she was going to enjoy this. 

"Fine. Are you and Agent Sousa ah...going steady?" Peggy burst out laughing and even Edwin was laughing a bit, enjoying seeing his employer so embarrassed. 

"Why Mr. Stark, what a scandalous thing to ask the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Peggy said in a mocking, horrified voice, complete with her hand on her heart and fake shock on her face. 

"I'm a co-founder! I'm the weapons manufacturer!" Stark countered. 

"Exactly. Such questions to a colleague." 

"I'm not asking as a colleague, I'm asking as a friend." The way he said it, without a trace of sarcasm or pervy interest in his voice, is what made Peggy and Edwin serious, and she looked at him, warm affection in her eyes. 

"Why Stark, are you asking as a protective friend? You going to rough him up and threaten him not to hurt me?" 

"No."

"He only says no because he tried one night a few weeks back. In the alley outside the diner. Didn't introduce himself to him and..."

"It was a mimic of our first meeting?" Peggy guessed. Edwin nodded and she laughed. "Stark, he's highly trained in hand to hand combat, what on earth were you thinking?" 

"I wasn't." Stark mumbled, embarrassed and accepting his fate for the day as the butt of the jokes. 

"Damn right." Peggy replied, still smiling. "And to answer your not so subtle question Stark, yes we are going steady as you put it. Remember the night you came to ask me that question about those files and Angie told you I'd be back soon, really, just a couple of hours? And you were so tired and frustrated you said forget it, and left? Angie told me about that." 

"Yes?"

"I wasn't going to be home in a couple of hours. In fact I didn't come home until the next night after work. I was at Daniel's." Her smirk, like the cat that got the creme, was something Stark hadn't seen before on her, and he didn't know exactly how to feel. Surprised, proud...concerned? This was a new Peggy Carter, and he kind of liked it. 

"Why Peggy Carter, you sly sly girl." Stark said, impressed. "I know my opinion means nothing to you, and I understand why it wouldn't, and you have every right to remain angry with me for the rest of our lives, but...I like him. He's a good guy. Stellar right hook..." Stark added, rubbing at his jaw and a phantom pain. "From what you've told me about him and what I saw myself, and what I've read, he's a great guy. Steve would have liked him too, he would have approved." Peggy nodded, her smile a bit sad now but real, genuine. She was happy. 

"Thank you Howard." Stark looked at her, surprised. She hadn't called him Howard in awhile, a part of her still angry and using his last name as a ' No , I'm still mad.' every day. He knew, at the office, it was better, but she'd been doing it when they would all get together for social events as well. "You're always going to be my friend Howard, and it does my heart good to know you like him. Steve would like him too, you're right." 

Stark raised his whiskey glass in a toast, and Peggy raised hers, still smiling. 

"...and then Edwin, Edwin is a lovely cook. He made the food you all had today at lunch. He's such a lovely man. Do you remember those lovely draperies in the living room in our house? Edwin sewed those, weren't they lovely?" Anna's voice drifted in from the hallway, and the click clack of feet (And Daniel's cane.) on marble tile alerted them to the reentrance of their friends. 

"Just one thing Carter." Stark began, quickly, as the door handle began to turn.

"Yes Howard?" 

"You're having the wedding here, no arguments. I'd be honored." Peggy's face flushed at his offer, and Stark smiled, enjoying that he'd gotten the upper hand one last time before the others were in the room. 

Later on, on their way home in the car that Stark had insisted they take, complete with driver, back home, Angie asked her what had her so flushed when they came back into the study. 

"Well, he...figured it out, about me and Daniel. He likes you a lot by the way, Daniel. And, to make me blush as I did, although I'm sure he was probably also serious, he...offered to host our wedding at that mansion." Angie burst out laughing and Daniel himself blushed. Peggy looked at him lovingly, and at Angie, so happy and full of life after enduring so many hardships. 

"As long as we're claimin' parts in your guys' wedding, I call being maid of honor." Angie pipped up, still laughing a bit in between words. "No but seriously, jokes aside, I call maid of honor. Sousa, you have that friend, David? He gonna be your best man? Of course he is. Why don't you ah...introduce us?" 

"Oh my god." Daniel groaned, still embarrassed. Peggy pat him on the back, still smiling. She could not stop smiling. 

"That's a lovely idea Angie. We should have him and Daniel over for dinner one of these nights. You and David would get along splendidly." 

"We should stop at the market on the way back." Angie said absentmindedly, staring out the window. "We need some more vegetables, and those dried soup packs. Daniel, you stayin' at ours tonight? Of course you are. We're out of oatmeal, that's your favorite right? We need to get oatmeal too. And those nut wafers Daniel likes, we're out of those too. Can you think of anything else?" Daniel sat, as Angie and Peggy chatted about things needed at the store, amazed by his luck. He'd survived the war, he was the deputy director of the best spy organization in the world, he was in love (and loved) by a spectacular woman, and said woman's best friend not only approved of him, but noted what foods he ate, meaning she must have liked him too. He had friends, people who cared about him. He had his health. He had love. He, Daniel Sousa, was doing pretty damn well. 

The End.


	19. First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After telling Angie that the date would be at the diner and when, mostly to inform her as to why she wouldn't be home at three in the morning, Angie immediately sprung up from the couch, and ran over to the phone, calling her boss and asking if she could work a graveyard shift that night. Peggy groaned, rolled her eyes, and flopped on the pillows of the rather large, nice couch in their living room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: No prompt. Just fluff from my head. :)

* * *

The decision to meet at the L & L Diner after he'd finished a long shift for their first date had been his idea, much to Peggy's surprise. She said it wasn't necessary, that just because she frequented it, doesn't mean they had to go there, but he insisted. He wanted to make sure she was comfortable, and what better way than to go to the place she ate most? That was, of course, unless she wanted to go to a fancier place, he had a little bit of money saved up. But she had said no, the diner was perfect. They'd agreed to either a late dinner or super early breakfast, depending on how one looked at getting off a twenty four hour shift at almost three in the morning. After telling Angie about this, mostly to inform her as to why she wouldn't be home at three in the morning, Angie immediately sprung up from the couch, and ran over to the phone, calling her boss and asking if she could work a graveyard shift that night. Peggy groaned, rolled her eyes, and flopped on the pillows of the rather large, nice couch in their living room.

"Angie." Peggy's tone was warning. Angie sat back down on the couch, grinning.

"Peggy." she replied in a sing song voice.

"Please don't pick on him. I know to you he's some bad guy agent who came to arrest me but...why are you shaking your head?" Angie, grin still firmly in place, shook her head again, and put a hand on Peggy's shoulder.

"Oh English, English, English, English, I like Sousa just fine. Yeah, he was a hardass, but he was just doing his job, as you mentioned. He actually came by a few days ago to drop something off for you. We chatted, he apologized, we're good."

"Then why...?"

"Oh, I want to be there to play 'annoying sibling' and try to embarrass you as much as possible, of course." Angie sprung up from the couch and ran to her room, laughing and barely dodging a pillow thrown at her back. Peggy sighed heavily, then groaned, before taking a pillow, putting it over her face, and screaming into it. She could not believe she was in this situation. She felt like a teenager again, dreading all the ways one of her older siblings could embarrass her in front of the cute guy she had a crush on. She was a full grown woman, she should not be feeling like this. 

But then she actually thought about the 'cute guy  she had a crush on' and she couldn't help but smile. Daniel had been patient, a gentleman, and a friend, throughout the entirety of their knowing each other. He'd even managed to charm Ms. Fry into letting Peggy go back to her old apartment at the Griffith and retrieve her things. Stark and Jarvis liked him, Angie liked him. She was sure that if her parents were still alive they'd like him too. And Steve...Steve would have loved him. He embodied the  same principles that Steve had, fight for what was right, damn the consequences to yourself, fight for the ones who couldn't. Do your best and follow your heart. Steve would have approved. She thought about Daniel's other qualities as well. She wasn't blind, Daniel was a very attractive man. His warm brown eyes and dark wavy hair, coupled with his soft but strong facial features created a rather pleasant combination to behold. Peggy would also be lying if she said she didn't admire his rather strong looking arms and, from what she could tell under that form fitting tank, rather well muscled chest as well. His sweet, joy bringing smile and laugh, his sense of humor, his kind manner...

"Oh my god, English are you day dreamin' about your boy?!" Peggy sat straight up and saw Angie poking her head out the door to her room, laughing at the sight in front of her. Peggy blushed profusely  and went to aim the pillow she'd been hiding behind at Angie's head. Angie, still laughing, retreated behind the door.  

"This is not happening, this is not happening. This is _not_ happening." Peggy muttered, getting up from the couch and walking to her own room, still blushing. Somehow Daniel was managing to make her feel like a teenager again, blushing over her first crush. 

The next day, Peggy handled some documents and meetings for S.H.I.E.L.D., still forming, and had decided to wear what she was going to wear to her date with Daniel that day. The diner was close to her new office and not so close to her new apartment, so she figured she'd just stay late at the office, maybe sleep for awhile, then walk to the diner. A simple but pretty semi-dark red dress with white piping on the collar and sash, she covered part of it up during the day with a black jacket she belted off. Before she left she'd planned on putting her hair up in a chignon and touch up her make up just a bit. 

She was nervous. Why was she so nervous? She shouldn't be so nervous, it was just Daniel after all. 

But that was just it, wasn't it? It wasn't just some guy she'd met randomly, it was Daniel. 

The man who'd been her only real friend at the S.S.R., despite what she'd told Jarvis. The man who actually treated her with respect in the office. The man who'd been able to maker smile and even laugh, in a time when she thought it wasn't possible. The man who was clever enough to figure out it was her at Raymond's club that night. The man who'd , for a tiny, miniscule second, made Peggy consider turning herself in when she ran, all because he'd asked her not to run. The guy who, even after interrogating her for hours, even after being (Admittedly, understandably.) upset and angry with her for lying to him for six months, was the first to believe her when she told her story. The man who'd always, it seemed, be on her side, even if there was some confusion and anger involved. 

The way he smiled at her.

The way he made her laugh.

The way he looked at her with unconcealable adoration and respect.

There were those school girl-esque feelings again, the butterflies in her stomach. This was getting ridiculous. 

"Hey Carter, whatcha doin'?" Peggy jerked her head up to see Stark leaning on the door jamb to her office, grinning. Oh dear god, just when she thought this couldn't possibly get any worse. 

"Nothing Stark, just thinking. What are you doing here? I thought you said that those files didn't need to be signed until next week. That we had time to consider the design for the new tranquilizer guns?" Stark rolled his eyes and pushed himself to a full standing position before walking over to the guest chair across from her and sitting down. 

"You do. The papers do not have to be signed until next week. That's all well and good, don't worry."

"Then why...?" 

"What? I can't come visit my old friend unannounced?" Stark gave her a look of feigned hurt which, in turn, made her roll her own eyes. 

"Stark, the last time you did that I got entangled in a scheme that ended up revealing a Russian organization bent on destruction, the deaths of multiple people, and the near unravelling of the whole of Boston,so please excuse me if I'm a little bit wary of your 'unannounced visits'." 

"Alright, that's fair." Stark conceded. "I stopped by the penthouse today to drop off something Anna made for you and Angie, and Angie had some interesting news to tell me." 

"Oh god, no, not you too." Peggy had to resist the urge to hide her face in her arms. This was something she had not intended for every single one of her acquaintances...friends...to know about. Not right away. It wasn't that she was ashamed of it, far from it. No, she didn't want to potentially scare Daniel off with all of her friends hovering around him, pestering him, asking severely uncomfortable, inappropriate questions. 

Which is exactly what Howard Stark would do, given the chance.

"Stark, I swear to god, if you come to the place where we're having the date and pester him or ask him inappropriate questions or anything of the like and scare him away I will make your life a living hell." Peggy threatened, leaning forward across her desk. "That sweet girl, what's her name, Maria? The one you've got your own little crush on, the nurse at the VA hospital, next time I see her I'll tell her every little embarrassing fact I know about you. Including the time you tried to kiss me during V-Day and I knocked you into the Thames, and..." 

"Settle down Carter! Settle down!" Stark was still amused, but Peggy noticed, happily, that some fear had crept up in it as well. "I won't come along and wreck your date, don't worry."

"Then why did you feel the need to come here today when you had no business to attend? To tease me?" 

"Well...yes and no. I can't pass up an opportunity to tease you Peg, you know I can't. But the real reason I came was to ask...ask if you are sure about this." Peggy's brows furrowed, not expecting that to be the reason he came to her that day, not expecting it to not only be to tease her that is. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I mean, are you sure you're ready? Are you sure you like this guy? Are you sure you like him enough to go through with the date? Another date? A few years of dates? What if he proposes some day? Or what if you propose to him, because honestly I see you doing that kind of thing. Are you sure you want to get into a relationship with this man? And I know, I know, one date doesn't mean that you'll start a relationship with him, but what if it does? What if it does, and years down the line you regret it and break it off? What if, and I'm not saying you do this, but I'm also not saying I entirely blame you if you do, you just keep comparing him to Steve? Will you really be happy with him? With anyone else? Because Peggy, I've learned the hard way that being in a relationship you aren't truly in, that you don't commit yourself to, that you give up on because you never really, truly loved the person, you were just filling a void, those relationships aren't fair to you or the person you're with. Sousa seems like a good guy. Good head on his shoulders, good agent, very smart, and he has a good heart. And from what I've seen of the few times I've seen you two around each other...the way he looks at you Peggy, it's like he's a blind man seeing the light for the first time. I'm fairly certain that man is in love with you already, and I think you know that too. This could turn into a relationship, a full on relationship that includes marriage. Because I think you really like him too. Obviously you do, otherwise you wouldn't be going on this date, but you need to ask yourself if you're prepared for this." Peggy was touched, and a little stunned, at Stark's concern, and she had to think about her answer, because the questions he'd put in front of her were fair, ones she'd considered sure, but not in the last few days, and his concern seemed genuine. 

"I assure you I have considered all of that Howard." Peggy began. "I know Daniel is a good man, and I assure you I am not leading him on in the slightest. I know this could develop into something more. A part of me is sincerely hoping it does because I do like Daniel. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with him. I can see the possibility of a future with him. Complete with marriage and even children. I loved Steve, this is true. I think I'll always love Steve, he was my first love in fact. But I'm letting go, I've let go of him, because I cannot spend my entire life wondering about the what ifs with him. It isn't fair to me and it isn't what Steve would have wanted for me either. He'd want me to move on and have a happy life. Which is why I am going on this date with this lovely man because I can very easily see myself living my life with him. I get those butterflies in my stomach when I see him or think of him. Lately I get nervous when I'm around him, but not in a bad way. I think I might be in love with him as well, and I do believe I'm ready. I can't dwell on the past, it isn't healthy. You shouldn't either Howard. I know this is hard, but the past needs to be the past, and our futures? They're bright. But they're only going to be bright if we allow them to be."

"True." 

"Which is also why you need to ask Maria out." Peggy said, smirking. Stark flushed. 

"I...she doesn't...she doesn't see me like that Peg. She just sees what society sees. A playboy billionaire who just so happens to manufacture weapons. And the whole scandal that the Leviathan so lovingly screwed me over with doesn't help either." 

"Oh Howard, you wonderful, lovable, daft man. I was with you the last time you visited remember? When we took those prosthetics to the returned soldiers? She was making the same eyes at you that you make at her when she isn't looking. You don't give her enough credit. She sees past what society sees. You have your own future waiting for you Howard and you need to grab onto it before it slips away."

"Like you are doing?"

"Like I am doing." 

They sat in an amiable silence for a few minutes before Howard got up to leave. 

"It's nice seein' you Carter, as always. Good luck on your date tonight. And...thank you." Peggy smiled warmly at him and nodded, giving a little wave of her hand in goodbye, to which he nodded slightly before leaving the office. 

Well then...Peggy Carter just had a heart to heart with Howard Stark. What an interesting day. 

Peggy had to suppress a groan when, upon arriving at the L&L Diner, she saw Angie chatting with Daniel. Angie said something, Daniel laughed. Oh yes, she'd already started in on embarrassing her for sure. But Daniel...Daniel looked so at ease, so happy. He was dressed in what Peggy guessed was his best work suit, dark brown with a black tie and waist coat. It was a bit wrinkled due to his long shift where he no doubt shifted in his chair, moved around, and did all the things that mess a fine pressed shirt up at work. For a second Peggy thought of all the other things that could mess up a fine pressed suit, namely ones that would involve her and Daniel, and maybe a wall or a couch...

"English! You're here! Come sit with your boy, I'm done humiliatin' you. Your usual coffee? Yeah? You're blushin' English, thinkin' of somethin'..." Angie smacked the gum in her mouth for affect "...saucy?" Peggy's blush grew deeper and Angie walked away laughing, as Peggy slid onto the bench across from Daniel, who was looking at her in that way that made her blush. 

"I shudder to think about what stories Angie has told you. She certainly has enough to humiliate me for a lifetime and I've only known her for about a year and a half." 

"Hello to you too Peggy." Daniel greeted, smiling. 

"Sorry. Hello Daniel, how was your shift?" An eyeroll from Daniel, a shush from Peggy. 

"My shift was alright. Boring but alright. Thompson's really riding the high horse train lately which is annoying. But he's always annoying so it's not like that's anything new. We got a new guy today, you'll probably meet him the next time you come in." 

"Did he take my old desk?" Peggy asked, picking up the menu in front of her and browsing just out of habit. She always got the same thing, why stop now?

"Nah, he was put at a desk of that agent who died in the shoot out during the big fight. Kinda near the entrance door, by Ramirez's desk?" Peggy nodded in recognition. 

"Well good. I won't be working there forever, but I'd hate to see my desk given up. It has the best view in the office." Peggy replied, a cheeky smirk on her face. It was Daniel's turn to blush this time.

"Why Carter, are you flirtin' with me? My oh my, what would the boys say?" 

"I couldn't give a toss what the boys say. I do give a toss about that desk though. For the time being that is my desk, and no one else may have it. Like I said, the view is impeccable. Good way to scope out some...assets." Both Peggy and Daniel were blushing when Angie came by with Peggy's coffee and the carafe to refill Daniel's. Seeing their faces, Angie's lit up in mirth.

"Dear me, both of ya blushin'. Whatcha talkin' about?" Peggy scowled and Angie laughed. "Oh I think I know exactly what you are talkin' about. English flirtin' with ya Mr. Agent Man? Yeah, I thought so. Get him girlie, get him!" 

"Oh my god." Peggy muttered as Angie walked away. "This is bad enough as it is, and I'm pretty sure Howard would have come to watch and give his input as well if I hadn't threatened him." 

"Stark wanted...he wanted to see our first date?" 

"He, like Angie, views himself as an honorary sibling, and as such he and Angie feel the need to embarrass me during this because that's just what siblings do." She dared to look at him, still embarrassed, and was surprised to find a warm, loving expression on his face, free of judgement. A bit of amusement, yes, but no judgement.

"I think it's wonderful personally. That you have close friends like that, who act like your siblings. You have a brother right?" Peggy nodded, taking a sip of her coffee. "I...I had a brother, before the war. I don't anymore. He died during the storming of the Normandy beaches. I miss him during times like this. Important moments in my life, events. I miss talking to him and asking for his advice on things. I didn't make that many friends when I came back from the war. My only close friend is David, whom I'm pretty sure you met that day when you helped me back to my apartment after the hospital? Well, David is certainly more than enough, but I still miss my brother. I miss him teasing me and crackin' jokes, I miss sharing things with him. You're very lucky." Peggy and Daniel grew silent for a moment after that, and Daniel sighed. "I'm sorry Peggy, I didn't mean to..." Peggy put one of her hands on top of one of his and squeezed it, before lacing their fingers together.

"Don't apologize Daniel, I want to hear about it. All of it. That's why we're on this date aren't we? To learn more about each other outside the office? See how compatible we are? Talking about our families and friends is a part of that and I want to hear about all of it, the good and the bad. Because it matters, it matters to you which makes it important, so by all means, talk about those things alright? And Angie, Howard, and Edwin? They're all very fond of you already Daniel. I dare say they'll be teasing you like a sibling soon enough as well." Daniel looked at their hands, woven together by their fingers, and stroked his thumb alongside the top of her hand. 

"Thank you. So, how are things at S.H.I.E.L.D.? Or are you allowed to say?" 

"Things are alright. We're still getting things up and running so it's a bit slow. I did mostly paper work today, which is rather boring. Had meetings, discussed recruits and the like. " 

"Sounds like so much fun Peggy, wow, paper work. How did you manage to pull yourself away from such fascinating stuff to come to this lowly boring date with me?" Daniel mocked, grinning.

"Oh shut up." Peggy chided. 

"Make me." Peggy felt those butterflies, those damn butterflies, flit around even stronger now. There they were on their first date, and she was getting flustered by his playful implication that she should kiss him. She hadn't been lying at all to Howard when she told him she liked Daniel, she liked him very much. She could see a future with Daniel very clearly. And that she might already be in love with him. It was 3:15 am and here he was, after a sixteen hour shift, at her favorite diner, talking to her friend because he wanted to make sure she was comfortable, he wanted to make sure she was alright. He wanted to make sure everything was wonderful for her. He didn't push himself or the idea of them dating on her, he was polite and waited for her to make the next move. He made her happy, ridiculously happy, and they hadn't even finished their first date yet. All this and so much more compelled her to lean forward and up, across the table, and kiss him. For a tiny second, during his shock he didn't respond and she began to worry that she'd made a terrible mistake but...oh ...then he did respond, and it felt lovely, it felt wonderful. It felt like coming home to a place you'd never considered home before but once you were there, it felt right. She felt right, as if this is where she was meant to be, meant to end up, the entire time. She'd missed Steve and she'd loved Steve, but at that moment she felt, for sure, that she'd always been meant to end up with Daniel Sousa. And the world kind of...fell into place in that moment, her life started to fall into place. Gone was the tiny bit of lingering doubt she'd had. This was meant to be. 

Jesus, she really did feel like a school girl right then. 

"While I love seein' two people so obviously and sickeningly in love as you two, I think it's time to order. Unless you want to take food to go and go back to the penth-ow! English! No smackin' the staff!" Angie was, however, still grinning after her flustered friend retreated her hand  from smacking her lightly on the arm. She took their orders, observing how the two of them moved, unintentionally she was sure, in sync, their head movements, hands, how they sat. She would have to remember to tell Stark all about it the next time he came by. After she left, the two of them sat across from each other, bashful smiles on their faces. 

"She...she said we looked like a couple in love." Daniel commented, picking up his coffee cup and taking a sip as a way to hide how flustered he was. It failed. Peggy grinned.

"Yes, and?" Peggy offered, re-lacing their fingers. Daniel looked at her, slightly surprised. 

"Is that an accurate description?" 

"Well I don't know Daniel, you'll have to tell me." Peggy replied, her face a picture of curiosity mixed with the grin from earlier. 

"Well...I mean... I... Peggy I'd never want to make you feel uncomfortable or uneasy about this, and I don't want you to continue with this out of guilt or pity or..." Peggy leaned forward again to kiss away the rest of his sentence and when they broke apart, her expression was kind, soft, happy, and loving. 

"Oh Daniel, you aren't making me uncomfortable at all. I...I don't know if it's love quite yet, but it's getting there. It's on a train on it's way to the station, and the station isn't too far away. In fact..." Peggy leaned forward, elbows on the table, hand still clasped with Daniel's, a giddy expression on her face. "...yes indeed, the conductor's just made the announcement. Time to get ready folks, the station is very close indeed." Daniel smiled and then copied her pose, a bit different do to his posture being affected by his prosthetic, but nearly identical. 

"Well I'll be waiting at that station for you then Peggy,  take as long as you like." 

"Sap." Peggy chirped, smirking. 

"Says the woman who came up with the train analogy." 

"Yes but you went with it. You went right on with it flawlessly. You sir are a sap."

"Yes, but I'm your sap." Daniel countered. Peggy leaned in and kissed him once again, enjoying the closeness and thrill it brought.

"Yes, I daresay you are." she replied after they broke apart.

They spent the rest of the date talking about the good and the bad in their lives, occasionally being interrupted by Angie who supplied an embarrassing story about Peggy or a comment about Daniel and  his first awkward encounter with her at the Griffith. At the end of the date, while walking with Peggy and Angie, back to their penthouse, Daniel felt a peace he hadn't felt since way before the war. And when they arrived at the penthouse, after arguing about whether or not he should stay in the guest room, ("You're stayin', end of discussion. We have a guest room, you're tired. You're in no shape to walk home right now and the cabbies this time of day are crooks. You're stayin' Mr. Agent Man, deal with it." Angie always had a way with winning arguments.) as Peggy walked him to the room, hers just past it, she pulled him close and, after giving him one more kiss, decided to tell him something important.

"Daniel?"

"Yes Peggy?" 

"The train pulled into the station I believe." 

Both of them went to sleep that morning, grinning like two teenagers in love.

The end. 

 

 


	20. Till The Next Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She would wonder, for years to come, how they found out. What gave it away. How they knew how much he meant to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: A rather overwhelming amount of requests for "Daniel or Peggy get seriously injured/Peggy kicks ass to save Daniel." has prompted this one. (Damn, you guys like angst. Which is fine with me.)

* * *

 

She wondered where she'd slipped up. When it was they found out about who meant the most to her. Maybe they hadn't figured it out and thought they were merely taking her second in command, but something told her, the tone of the enemy's voice when he made the call to S.H.I.E.L.D. especially, that told her otherwise. 

One, two, punch. Another guard goes down. 

Peggy's heart was beating fast as she ran through the endless maze  of hallways.  She could hear gunfire behind her, S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.S.R. agents making their way through the underground compound they'd been told Daniel was being held. Of course, this could all be a trap, Daniel could very possibly not even be there, but something in her heart told him he was very close. 

Three men came running down the stairs and she charged at them, taking the first one out with the butt of her gun, twirling around and catching the other on the side of the head with the neck of the gun, and punching out the third.

"CARTER! CARTER STOP! WAIT FOR BACKUP!"

' _Oh shut up will you Thompson? This isn't your show._ ' Peggy's mind hissed. 

She reached another level, deeper and deeper underground. She should feel tired, she's been up for three days straight, ever since Daniel had gone missing. But there was adrenaline coursing through her veins now that she was there, now that she was so  close to rescuing him. 

Four more guys came running down the hall and she began to wonder how many guards were posted here. But the increase in guards was telling her one thing; she was getting a lot closer to her goal, getting a lot closer to him. 

"Hello boys." she greets sweetly, holding the gun behind her back and trying to plaster a sweet, innocent look on her face. 

"What's a dame like you doin' in a place like this?" one of the guards asked, lowering his gun and putting on what she was sure he thought was a charming smile. 

"Oh my, I got taken here by some scary looking men and all of a sudden I hear screaming and guns! I ran from the room I was staying in. I'm so scared!" 

"Aw darlin', it's alright, we'll help you out of this scary place." Another man offered, walking closer. Peggy smiled as two of them got closer and closer until...

"She's got a gun!  She's one of them S.H.I.E.L.D. dames!" 

' _Wow, how observant_.' Peggy swung the heavy machine gun around, knocking the two closer men out before she ducked, dodging a hail of bullets before retrieving the set of the new 'toys' (As Stark termed them.) developed for the agency; electrocution sticks. Not enough power to kill, just knock out for a really _really_ long time. It was, she admitted, a handy tool to have. Two more men down. 

She halted before she went down the next one, hearing a few too many voices that went along with a few too many men than she could take down. Reaching into one of the pockets on her belt, she took out a copper canister that looked like a grenade. Stark had eloquently (For Stark at least.) named them the 'Dreamers', a canister filled with gas enough to knock out an entire regiment of men. She also took out a portable gas mask , and, after rolling her eyes a bit and cringing at the Stark logo, she put it on , pulled the plug on the canister, and tossed it down the hallway. 

She waited,  hearing the sounds of men yelling, coughing, and ultimately falling to the ground, knocked out. In the distance she could hear her own men making their way through the place still, gunfire, flash bombs, the sounds of metal hitting skin. 

As soon as she was sure they were out, Peggy turned, with the gas mask still on, and ran down the hallway, trying her best not to step on the men on the floor. Bloody nuisance. 

She came to an elevator and cringed. How many more levels were there? 

She stepped on, guessed, and pressed the button to take her to what she assumed was the bottom floor, where they had to be. As she waited, she thought of the last time she'd seen Daniel, the last words she'd spoken to him. She felt shame and anger wash over her in waves. They'd gotten into an argument, an absolutely terrible argument that, after quite a bit of mulling over, Peggy realized she'd been in the wrong. But regardless whether or not she'd been right, she shouldn't have said what she had to him. She knew just how to push his buttons, what would make him crack, what would destroy him, and she had taken advantage of that. 

The fight had begun about the protocol for rescue missions involving kids and other defenceless persons, as they knew they'd be called in for such missions sometimes, despite being mostly an intelligence gathering organization at the moment. It had eventually devolved into the usefulness of some agents and whether or not it they were morally alright with civilian casualties. Sure, it was always upsetting, but perhaps they should take it as it came and stop trying to save 100% of the group. The survival of most of them would be a win wouldn't it? And so what if that rescue costs a few injuries? 

"If they get shot in the leg or in the arm, why does it matter? At least they'll live Daniel! They'll live and then they have more of a chance of getting out of there!" 

"What if that injury ends with them having to have that limb amputated? What if they can't get to a doctor in time and it gets infected? It takes a long time to learn how to deal with prosthetics Peggy, what if they live somewhere where that isn't an option? S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have the budget to take all of those people on! What about the families? These kinds of things can destroy families." 

"Why is this even an issue Daniel? Answer me that." 

"Because it's something we need to consider! We need to find a way to get everyone out in situations where we know we can. Damn the consequences. We shouldn't leave someone behind just because of an imagined time crunch! By the time we get to them we usually have most of the bad guys out anyway, so why the constant rush?"

"Because more people could be coming! Because we don't know what else is in the structure! What if there were bombs! We wouldn't know until we got caught up in one and then, well then it's too late now isn't it?" 

"Isn't Stark supposed to be developing those new kinds of carriers and gurneys that make a person weightless in them? You can carry six people out no problem. What happened to that?"

"That project was pushed for the new tranquilizers." Peggy replied promptly. She was getting angrier and angrier, dangerously so. It'd been a terrible week and her headache was slowly turning into a migraine. She knew she was close to saying something she'd regret but in that moment she didn't care. 

"So the thing that could help us save more lives on rescue missions was pushed aside for yet another weapon?"

"Yes! That's what Stark does! Weapons! At least they're tranquilizers instead of actual bullets. Of which can also help save more lives! I don't understand why you're behaving like this!" 

"Why I'm behaving like this? Why I'm behaving like this. Peggy, the last rescue mission we sent the agents out for they lost twenty people! Twenty! That could have been avoided if some of the agents had doubled back or they had those damn gurneys! I get the logistics of what they did, but there has to be a way we can do better! And what if we had a situation where our agents are injured. Don't we want to find better ways of getting them out of there? Reduce the seriousness of the injury?"

"What, you mean like death? Or no, you mean amputations? Things happen Daniel, we cannot avoid these tragedies all the time." 

"Yes but some people can't bounce back easily from those experiences! It isn't easy Peggy, it's years of battling with yourself and the world. You end up tired and weak most days. Sometimes you don't recover at all. These tragedies can get to a person. We can't all be super soldiers Peggy." He winced, he hadn't meant to say that.  Peggy tensed up, and Daniel wished they could just start the day over. 

"Yes, you're right, you aren't super soldiers. No one is, not anymore. " 

"Peggy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

"No, no it's fine. I get it Daniel, I do. You're feeling weak and incompetent, and instead of dealing with it like a soldier, you're dealing with it like a civilian with no idea what it's like to make the real sacrifices in war. You're right, you aren't a super soldier because Steve would have seen the merit in getting out of there as fast as he could get everyone out. He learned his lesson that going back for everyone isn't always the best idea."

"Excuse me? So are we forgetting what kind of man he was? Because I was under the impression the man you knew from the many times you've talked about him, was exactly the type of person who would go back for everyone. Because that's the impression I got of him when he came back to get me at that Hydra base." 

"He wouldn't have had to if you'd gone when you were supposed to!"

"I was helping other guys get out of their cells! People'd been tortured Peggy, including me! I knew what they'd been through! Don't tell me you wouldn't go back for your fellow soldier Peggy, because I know that isn't your style. None of this is, so why, all of a sudden, do you want to rush the missions? What's wrong with getting everyone out?" 

"That didn't really work out well in Ireland, now did it?" 

"Ireland? That's what this is about? Ireland? The only one who almost died in that situation was me! I told them to go if I didn't make it back out in time. It's not my fault they didn't follow orders." 

"Yes it is! If they were more disciplined they would have left and we would have gotten more people out! Instead they waited for you because of that damn leave no man behind mentality and we lost more people!" 

"Well I'm sorry I can't move faster and I'm sorry my men were so insistent on staying behind to wait for me."

"Maybe you should stop going out on missions." Peggy suggested, knowing, even as the words left her mouth it was the wrong choice.

"Excuse me? I'm a valuable agent, even you've said so yourself. I can get intell other people can't. I'm good at what I do, I'm a puzzle solver. You personally assigned me to that case! I'm sorry I'm no Steve Rogers but..."

"Yes, you're right, you aren't Steve Rogers, because if it had been Steve out there, I wouldn't have been worrying every second if he'd come home! At least he didn't need anyone to wait for him to assure he'd make the mission home alive!" Shit. Shit, shit , shit, _shit_ , she shouldn't have said that. She wished there had been a way to turn back time and take it back. She hadn't meant to say that either, and the look of pain, the look of hurt, shock, and...betrayal, on his face was one she never liked seeing, on she avoided. One where she knew she'd gone too far. Daniel angrily grabbed the folder he'd had set down on the desk, his body as tense as she'd ever seen it. 

"You know what, Krzeminski was right. 'No gal's going to trade a red, white, and blue shield for a crutch.' he said. I don't know why I thought otherwise, I don't know what made me think I had a chance with you. Because this? This cannot work if all you see is my crutch and my disability. It's been two years since you started up here at S.H.I.E.L.D., two years of us being together. Now, now I'm wondering if this will work out. I'll keep working with S.H.I.E.L.D., I'll keep working with you, but as for us? I just...I don't know Peggy..." As he walked away, the tears began to roll down Peggy's eyes, white hot in feel and constant. 

"Daniel...Daniel I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." Daniel stopped, just by the door, but didn't turn back around. 

"If it were one of us Peggy, if you were captured, wouldn't you want me to come back for you? What if I was captured? Would you come back for me, no matter what, or would you count me as an acceptable loss? Because we both know that escaping with me would be an issue, escaping with me injured is worse. So I'm wondering Peg, would it really make any difference if it were me or someone else? Would you risk the mission for me?" Peggy was silent, not trusting her voice at that moment, the tears falling harder than ever. Mistaking her silence for a no, Daniel's posture slumped a bit, and he started to walk again, to his office across the hall. "Yeah, that's what I thought." 

She heard screaming, someone being hurt, tortured, as the doors of the elevator opened. 

No, not just anyone, Daniel. 

She sprinted down the hall, moving swiftly as she used the electrocution sticks to take down guard after guard, dodging bullets and swipes to her body. A few men took more, hand to hand combat and the butt of her gun, to go down, but at that moment, she didn't care. If she had to she'd shoot them. 

She reached another hallways, dark and damp in that godforsaken compound, and the screaming was the loudest it had been. She came to the door, finally, and slammed through it, seeing in the room, a small, mousy man with an evil gleam in his eyes, another tall man, dressed in dark colors, probably the torturer, and on the table next to him...

"What do you want? Why did you take Agent Sousa? He doesn't know enough about the new weapons locations to help you." Peggy began, slowly walking closer, her gun aimed at the torturer's head. "Why take him?"

"Why, to get you here of course." The mousy man replied. "We've been watching you Agent Carter, when you're on the streets, when you think no one is watching. Almost always with this man. We've seen the way you look at him, we made an educated guess. A good one at that it appears." 

"What do you want in exchange for him? The location of the weapons?" He wasn't breathing. She couldn't see his chest rise and fall, and tried to attribute that to the darkness of the room, but her heart beating fast, trying and failing not to think the worst. 

"Well, that and a few other things. But be careful Agent Carter, one wrong move and we, or rather my friend here, finishes your man off before you can even blink." Carter then saw the electric cattle prod the torturer was holding, and how close he was to Daniel, who looked near death already. She had to figure this out.

"And what do I get in return? Surely you don't believe that just one agent would be enough for S.H.I.E.L.D. to give out all that valuable information." 

"No, maybe not S.H.I.E.L.D., but you? Surely you'd be able to bend a few rules, you are the director are you not? What wouldn't you do to save the man you love?" Peggy visibly tensed, and hated the please look on the man's face. She wanted to punch him. No.

She wanted to shoot him dead. 

The powerful, overwhelming want to shoot the men who were hurting Daniel was shocking her just a bit. She couldn't remember ever feeling the need to kill so strongly. As a general rule she avoided killing people if she could, but at that moment, all she wanted to do was shoot both of the men dead. 

She started when she heard a cry, the man had taken the prod to Daniel, who was now sitting bolt upright on the table, in pain to the point of tears, and hyperventilating. 

Time to make her choice. She swung the gun to the side, then up, shooting at a light hanging from the ceiling and cascading the entire space into darkness. She knocked the torturer out with the butt of her gun before turning to where she heard the other man start to run away. She ran and pounced on him, taking him to the ground and, instead of using the gun, tossed it aside and punched him. Hard. And continued to do so. 

And that's how Philips and his men found her, twenty second later, shining flashlights on her, still going at the man with all the fury she'd pent up. 

"Carter! Carter he's out! Carter stop! You'll kill him! He's still useful for intel! Carter!" Philips pulled her off of the man kicking and screaming, struggling to continue her work, her eyes gleaming with malice. "Carter, what the hell got into you?" Carter watched as the men hauled off the torturer and the other, mousy man, the gleam still present, but her breathing coming back to normal. 

"He took Daniel. He had him tortured. He was going to have Daniel killed right before my eyes." Carter replied, a cold tone in her voice. 

"So you decided to beat that guy to death?" 

"Oh...no. I wouldn't have killed him Philips."  Carter noted, pleased, that two of the men had brought a Stark prototype of the new gurney, and were loading Daniel on it, off to safety.

"Then what were you doing?"

"He tried to kill the person I love the most in the world. He tried to kill Daniel. No one does that and gets away with it." It wasn't entirely the words, although they were a big factor, that sent the chills down Philips' spine, more that it was the tone of her voice. Sharp, devoid of guilt, as if beating the man within an inch of his life for hurting her loved on was the most logical and only option available to her. He watched, somewhat dumbstruck, as Peggy walked along the gurney, lacing her fingers gently together with one of Daniels, talking quietly to him as the gurney was pushed. This was a side of Carter he'd never seen in all the years he'd known her. This was her protective side, her angry, scary protective side. He made a note to never be on the receiving end of her wrath unless he had a death wish.

The next day, Peggy sat by Daniel's bed side at the hospital, keeping watch, guarding him. The nurses and doctors learned not to try and force her to leave after she threatened to have the entire hospital quarantined, and in one case of a particularly nosy doctor who didn't know when to shut up, punched out.  

She felt herself start to slip off, now going four days without sleep, one of her hands clasped with one of his, when she felt his hand move.

"Daniel? Daniel are you awake?" She perked up, eagerly pulling her chair even closer to the bed, studying his facial features.

"Peg?"

"Yes Daniel, I'm right here."

"We've got...we've got to stop meeting like this." Peggy laughed, the tears streaming down her eyes, and she bent forward to kiss him, a slight smile on his face as well. 

"Well, we just need to be more careful then, don't we? No more getting snatched up by enemies trying to hurt me by taking the person I love most alright?" 

"I'm the person you love most?" Peggy's heart constricted at the surprise in his voice, and she wished there was a way she could show this silly, silly man how much he meant to her truly.

"Yes you dolt, you're the one I love most. So stop getting yourself kidnapped."

"You're no fun." Daniel fake pouted. Peggy laughed, smiling through her tears, she reached up and touched his hair, moving a loose bit of bangs from his face, enjoying seeing him watch her once again, seeing him alive and breathing. 

"Yes, well, call me old fashioned but I'd like to keep the people I love safe." They enjoyed the silence for awhile before Peggy spoke up again. "Daniel...about what I said before when...I mean... I didn't mean...please believe me when I say I never ever meant..." Peggy was cut off by his hand, still entangled with hers, pressing against her lips, and him shaking his head.

"Consider it forgotten. We both said some terrible things, and it's behind us now, it's in the past. We shouldn't dwell on that because dwelling in the past? That just keeps us from living our futures, and I don't know about you Peggy, but I'm very keen on living my future with you." A new batch of tears threatened her and Peggy leaned forward again to kiss him, enjoying the feeling of his lips on hers, their hands still entwined, and how close he was

"I love you." she said when they broke apart. 

"I love you too Peg, I love  you too. Now let's see, there's room up here. Why don't you join me and get some sleep? You look like hell." Peggy rolled her eyes before getting up on the bed next to Daniel, resting her head gently on his shoulder, and falling asleep for the first time in over four days.

Yes, there were things to do, reports to fill out, people to talk to.

But that all could wait till the next day. 

 

The End.


	21. Jealousy, Thy Name Is Peggy Carter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was not jealous of the pretty blonde woman who worked at the carnival, she was not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: No prompt, I just like the idea of jealous Peggy. It's nothing but fluff.

* * *

 

She was not jealous of the pretty blonde woman who worked as a 'psychic' at the carnival that had come to Boston, she was not. 

Really she wasn't.

But the more she kept repeating that in her mind, the more she knew she was lying to herself. Of course she was jealous of the pretty blonde who worked at the carnival, which was beyond ridiculous really. She wasn't much for being jealous of some woman she barely knew and talked to , least of all in regards to a man. (She ignored the times she shot at Steve after that one woman asked him out. She had not been jealous, really. She was just testing the shield, yes. Testing the shield and nothing more.) 

She was not jealous. She just didn't find the woman to be too professional, and that miffed her the wrong way. Wasn't she supposed to be professional? Couldn't the carnival people get in trouble if she wasn't? Then again, she figured they probably didn't care how professional she was as long as she brought in money. She knew the woman was just trying to make a living. 

She was not jealous. 

It's just...did she _have_ to be so handsy with him? She knew she was supposed to take Daniel's hand, Daniel had accepted the palm reading as Peggy had accepted one; they were getting bored at the carnival and decided to do it because why not? It's not like they were going to take anything the woman said seriously. But she kept stroking his hand, part of his arm, like he was some kind of animal she was petting. And Daniel had this smile, one she had thought was reserved only for her and she could have _sworn_ she saw him give the woman that smile. 

She was not jealous. 

Daniel was always a gentleman, he was always polite and kind. That's just who he was. She'd seen him work his charm on the most arrogant and stubborn suspects (and people) and get information out of them when no one else could. Of course he was polite and courteous to the woman, gave her a winning smile and said 'Yes ma'am' and 'No ma'am.'. 

She was not jealous. 

Most people were, much to Peggy's annoyance, rather surprised when they found out she and Daniel were together. She could see the surprise in their faces and the hurt in Daniel's, and it made her want to punch them. So, to be fair, they never out right told the woman that they were a couple, but did she have to be so flirty with him? And her lines were abysmal, 'Hey there handsome, you busy this coming Friday night? There's going to be a great show happening and I can get you behind the scenes.' _Behind the scenes_. Peggy snorted. What rubbish.

She was not jealous.

She was not jealous.

She. 

Was not.

Jealous. 

Peggy sniffed and continued walking down the aisles, one of Daniel's arms and one of hers tightly connected. They decided to go somewhere outside the carnival to eat after stepping out of the psychic's tent. 

Well...

Sort of stepping out. 

"So," Daniel began, eyes forward, keeping track of where they were going. " you want to tell me why you all of a sudden threatened to have that poor girl arrested and the entire carnival shut down, causing the woman to tell us to get the hell out of her tent and never return?" 

"She's a fraud Daniel, that was quite clear." 

"Yes, but so are most of the people here, and I don't remember you threatening to shut down the magician's act earlier when he 'sawed' the woman in half." 

Peggy sniffed, indignant. 

"Peggy..." Daniel warned, half joking.

"Daniel." she quipped, using the same tone. 

"Peggy..." They'd arrived at the entrance/exit to the carnival, and Daniel pulled her off to the side, turning her towards him and looking at her with a serious expression. " what happened? What's wrong? Was it something  I did or...?"

Peggy sighed and felt a bit of shame wash over her. She'd been ridiculous and she knew it, but a part of her couldn't help it. Daniel was hers, not some random psychic's in some random traveling carnival. Hers. 

Good god, she felt ridiculous. 

"I know that sigh, what's wrong? What do you think you've done? You think it's you? Whatever it is you think you've done, I assure you Peggy it isn't..." She cut him off with a hard kiss, grabbing his head and pulling him closer, as close as she could. It was possessive, rough, but , she noted with pleasure, Daniel had moaned into her lips and kissed back, just as hard. It was only when they felt the need for air to be extremely important, did they break apart, both breathing heavily, Daniel with a look of stunned confusion, and Peggy with a look of smugness that she could make him make the face he was. 

"That's a lovely face on you Daniel, I approve." She quipped. 

"I...um...so...not that I don't appreciate that sudden show of want, but uh..."

"Oh," Peggy began, grabbing one of his arms again and moving them forward. "I just wanted to give you a little reminder about who and what makes your heart beat faster is all." 

"That's a hell of a reminder at a hell of a random mome...wait a second..." Peggy felt a blush creep up her neck as he stopped them once again. "Oh my god, Peggy were you jealous of that young lady?" 

"Don't be absurd Daniel, why would I be jealous?" 

"I don't know Peggy, you tell me."

"I..." Her blush deepened and she looked down at her shoes, embarrassed.

"Peggy, please look at me."

Peggy looked up to see him smiling, which in turn made her blush more.

"I'm sorry. I'm being ridiculous, it's just...she was so pretty with that blonde hair and those shining blue eyes and she kept touching you..."

"She's a palm reader Peggy."

"I know! I know. But then she asked you out to that show and..."

"She did? When?"

"When she was reading my palm."

"I didn't even hear her say it."

"Oh really? And why's that? She was rather vocal about it and..."

"I was thinking about our little day trip to Coney Island last month. How you dragged me onto all those rides, how you admitted to me that you would stuff your face with cotton candy as a child even though your mother disapproved because it had so much sugar in it and it'd end up making you sick." Daniel curled a stand of her hair around one of his fingers and put the same hand on her right cheek, to which she leaned into. "I was remembering how beautiful you looked, lit up by the light of the fireworks we saw that night. I was thinking about you the whole time Peggy."

"I...well...good. You better have been." Daniel laughed and Peggy smiled.

"I love you Peggy."

"I love you too Daniel."

Daniel kissed her briefly before lacing his fingers with hers and continuing to walk forward.

"And Daniel?"

"Yes Peggy?"

"I believe you know some of my _other_ sighs a lot better." She said, a cheeky grin on her face. Daniel blushed.

"Why Margaret Carter, I never!" 

" Why Daniel Sousa, you so have." She leaned up and whispered in his ear. "Many times. Much to my pleasure."

"Peggy!" Daniel was beet red and Peggy laughed. 

"Yes Daniel?" She asked, a fake look of innocence on her face. Daniel shook his head.

"I love you." 

"Yes, so you said."

"What, no I love you back?" Peggy grinned, rolled her eyes, and gave him a peck on the cheek. 

"I love you as well Daniel, as I have previously stated on several occasions." 

" Well good." Daniel replied. "You better." 

As they walked, Peggy tilted her head back in a full body laugh, and Daniel couldn't have been any happier. 

The End. 


	22. Morning Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from GaganSidhu "Peggy and Daniel + waking up slowly, also cuddling :)".

* * *

 

Peggy was surprised when she opened her eyes and found her fiance still asleep next to her. Contrary to what several people seemed to believe about them, Daniel was usually the one who rose first. 

She smiled, enjoying the calm of their room and the opportunity to watch him for awhile in silence. Resisting the urge to stretch her limbs and risk waking him, she snuggled a bit closer to him. In the night he'd put an arm around her waist and pulled her a bit close, but not close enough, not for her, not at that moment. 

She knew that they'd have to get up soon, that they'd have to get dressed, eat their version of breakfast (Toast and coffee.) and rush out the door to go to work, that their day would be the chaos it always is. They did work at S.H.I.E.L.D. after all. But for now it was their time, for now they could just be Peggy and Daniel, not Director Carter and Agent Sousa. 

Things had been stressful at work lately, not to say that their jobs weren't a stress to begin with but they'd become aware of a new set of girls who had been trained by the same people who trained Underwood, and tracking them down was almost impossible. They covered their tracks well and had learned from past issues to improve. They were efficient and deadly. Peggy was admittedly impressed. She'd go so far to say that if they could get one of them to defect to the US, she'd be a wonderful asset. But she didn't think that'd ever happen. Daniel was caught between wanting to capture and stop these girls and wanting to take pity on them and find a way to save them from a life in the cells. She knew he had a friend when he was young, a little girl who lived in the apartment building he grew up in, that he'd known and cared about. Hell, Peggy was sure, although he'd never said it, that they'd been planning to marry some day. When they turned 15 she fell in with a group of bad people and disappeared a year later. She knew Daniel loved her more than anything, but deep down she believed that he wanted to save these girls so that he could resolve himself of the guilt he felt about not saving his friend. 

Peggy drew him a bit closer, their skin touching, bodies lined up next to each other, him still asleep. 

She knew as well as anyone else that the what ifs in life could kill a person. Dwelling on the past did nothing except ruin your chances at having a future. There was a time, even after she had started working at the S.S.R. and met her soon to be husband (little had she known), that she still contemplated what it might have been like had Steve lived and they had gotten married. Flights of fancy, silly thoughts. But it was a part of her and she knew that chastising herself for that was ridiculous. But then...then one day, the very day she emptied the vile into the water, something lifted and her dreams and thoughts of those what ifs started to...fade. 

And they were replaced by Daniel. And Angie. And Anna and Edwin Jarvis. And...as much as she hated to admit this, Howard. And the Howling Commandos. And Colonel Philips. Slowly but surely her what ifs with Steve turned into the future that was shining brightly in her soul and her mind. It was replaced by her friends, her loved ones. It was replaced by the thrill and nervousness of a new relationship and the excitement of a new life. 

She wanted to kiss him, she wanted to kiss him so badly in that moment. But he'd been up late going over files, going to bed hours after she had (Although she'd stayed awake, unable, as much as she hated to admit it, to fall asleep comfortably without him anymore.), and knew it'd be another long day where he'd probably once again be up looking over files way after he should have gone to bed.

"You're staring."

Peggy started a bit and then her eyes came into focus and saw her fiance, eyes still closed, smiling. 

"How long have you been awake?"

"A couple of minutes." Daniel admitted, opening his eyes and looking at her. She felt a flit of butterflies in her stomach and wondered how long it would be before they stopped flittering every time he looked at her the way he was at that moment. 

"Ha! I've been up for ten minutes. Beat you to the punch." Daniel laughed at that and Peggy smiled, enjoying these small moments between them. 

"Oh no, tomorrow I regain my title as the earlier riser, just you wait." Daniel promised, leaning forward to kiss her, which she accepted gratefully. 

"Mmmf." Peggy's non-verbal reply made him laugh again, and Peggy felt her heart swell up at the sound. She'd heard him laugh so little when they first worked together that the increase of this act as of late always made her happy. Daniel rested his right palm gently on her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb, looking at her with all the love and devotion he had, making her breath catch in her throat. 

She couldn't help but wonder if this was all a dream, that she was back in London after the war and in some sort of coma in a hospital. There was no way she was getting this happy ending right?

"What are you thinking about?" Daniel asked, noticing the pensive look on her face. Peggy smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his torso, pulling him flush against her, drawing circles on his back through the fabric of the sleepshirt he was wearing. 

"I was thinking about how lucky I am." Daniel raised an eyebrow at the comment and she rolled her eyes. "I'm serious. I'm very lucky Daniel. I have friends who care about me enough to do legally questionable things to protect me, I have a great job, and I have a fiance who loves me more than life itself, or so I assume..."

"You assume correctly." Daniel interrupted, causing her smile to grow wider.

"And whom I love in equal measure." she finished. "I hope you know that."

"I do." Peggy smiled and they laid there in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Peggy groaned. "What's wrong."

"I really don't want to go into work today." She whined, complete with a pout that Daniel could have sworn he'd seen on Angie's face more than Peggy's. Oh lord. 

"I know." He replied, sighing. "I don't either. I have a strategy meeting with Philips today and I'm not looking forward to that. At all. I know he likes me but he just has that unfortunate type of face where he always looks so angry and disappointed and it's terrifying." Peggy laughed and Daniel pushed on her playfully in retort, which only made her laugh harder. 

"You'll be fine. He doesn't bite." 

"He does bite, I've seen it. Terrified a new guy the other day. I thought the poor man was going to pass out right then and there." That made Peggy laugh again and kiss him lightly on the lips. 

"Fine, he won't bite you. Like you said, he likes you. You'll be fine. The new recruits? Maybe not. But you'll be fine." 

"Whatever you say Carter."

"Damn right." Daniel rolled his eyes and Peggy felt the urge to say something else sassy but pushed it back down. When she felt him start to tug away, she held onto him tighter than before, causing him to look at her, curious.

"No, no getting up. Stay here in bed with me where it's safe and warm. We can cuddle more and talk about wedding plans." The look she was giving him, complete with a puppy dog expression he _knew_ Angie had taught her, was almost enough to make him give in. Almost.

"Oh but I can't Peg. You see my boss wouldn't like me playing hooky, especially since I have kind of an important job. She's very strict, kind of a hardass, although admittedly she's kind of hot and... ouch! No! Mercy! Uncle! Uncle!" Daniel laughed at Peggy, who'd repositioned herself and then pounced on top of him, tickling him mercilessly. 

"A hardarse huh?" Peggy inquired, not moving from her spot, quite enjoying having him pinned down. 

"Oh but it's such a lovely a..." Peggy leaned forward and kissed him soundly, lacing her fingers with his and embracing this quiet time they had together. They stayed like that for a few minutes until the sound of the alarm they'd set startled them. Peggy sighed loudly, dramatically, making Daniel smirk, and got off her fiance before stumbling to the bathroom to take a shower. Twenty minutes later, when she emerged from the bathroom, she smiled at the smell of coffee brewing and the distinct smell of toast in the toaster. She hollered out the bedroom door that the shower was free and that Daniel should hurry. They fell into their routine as usual and Peggy, leaning against the counter as she ate her toast, felt happy, free, loved. 

Any morning with Daniel Sousa in her life was a good morning to her.

The end.

 


	23. Back In A Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He opened his eyes and was right back in the field, laying there, bleeding, on the verge of passing out. A part of him wondered why he had imagined such a story for his future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! :D As a note, the F word is used twice in this chapter.

* * *

 

He opened his eyes and was right back in the field, laying there, bleeding, on the verge of passing out. A part of him wondered why he had imagined such a story for his future when it was so painfully clear he wouldn't have one.

He was cold, of course he was cold, it was winter. He was going in and out of consciousness, listening  to the screams and crying of his fellow soldiers. Listening to them pray to God to let them live, to anyone who would listen to tell their families they loved them. Listening to them die. 

_"Daniel..." Peggy said his name in the middle of a very comfortable silence that they had been enjoying one morning. The tone in her voice, one of anxiousness and a bit of worry, made him look up from the report he'd been looking over._

_"Yes Peggy? What's wrong? You look nervous."_

_"I...well you see during my lunch break yesterday I visited the doctor and...no no, I'm fine." Peggy added, seeing the look of worry on her husband's face." Daniel...I'm pregnant."_

The blood, there was so so so much blood. It was soaking through his uniform and into the snow under and surrounding him. The gunfire had died down, but the chaos had not. Men were still screaming, still dying, still asking for mercy. Way off in the distance he could hear what he thought was the men who ran the ambulances, but he thought he must have been imagining it. There was no way they'd make it out of here. He'd escaped a Hydra base prison only to die from bleeding out because someone had shot him several times in the leg. 

"Hey! HEY! This one's still alive! Get him in the vehicle and back to camp!" He hears a young woman shouting in what feels like the distance, before he feels someone drop to their knees next to him, and pressure is on his leg. "Hello? Can you hear me? Please don't go to sleep, it'll make it worse. Stay with me sir. What's your name?"

"Sousa." He croaked. "Daniel Sousa." Screaming. Cries for mercy. People dying. So. Much. Blood. He cannot for the life of him explain how it felt to die. How it felt when one's life was slowly leaving one's body.

" Well hello there Sousa. You're going to be alright you hear me? The stretcher is coming, you're going to the hospital. You'll be alright."

"How many of the men you've told that to have actually lived?" His question wasn't harsh or snapping. It was a plea to lie, a plea to keep on lying when they both knew things were bleak. She sighed.

"Not many." A part of him appreciated her honesty, the other part hated her for it. 

_"Push Ms. Carter! Push!" Peggy was screaming, her right hand clenching Daniel's left hand in a vice like grip. The doctor was coaching her, the nurses attending. Peggy was sweating profusely and Daniel couldn't bare to see her appear to be in so much pain._

_"I am pushing you bloody moron! It's not like I'm knitting a damn...ah! A damn jumper or..."_

_"Harder Ms. Carter! Come on! I can see the head! You're so close!"_

_"Mrs. Sousa!" Peggy corrected, her eyes still shut, her grip even tighter._

_"Sorry?"_

_"My civilian last name is S-ahhh-Sousa!"_

_"My apologies Mrs. Sousa. The head is out! Come on! One more big push and they'll be out!"  Daniel flushed at her correction. True, on her civilian papers her last name was Sousa, mostly to appease his mother and for tax and other such reasons, but to him she was Carter. To the people of S.H.I.E.L.D., she was Carter. Everyone else thought of her strictly as Margaret 'Peggy' Carter. Apparently she now thought of herself as Margaret 'Peggy' Sousa._

_"They're out!" Dr. Jones called. Peggy relaxed, her vice grip loosening. Just like that, after 15 hours of labor, their child was born._

_"What is it? A boy or a girl?" Peggy asked, beaming in between winces of pain._

_"A girl." Peggy laughed with joy, Daniel smiled, words failing him. The cord was cut, their daughter wrapped in a blanket and handed to Peggy._

_"Hey there..." Peggy whispered. Daniel sat on the side of the bed, putting one arm around his wife's shoulders, staring in awe at their child._

He shifted  accidentally on the carrier and the pain that shot through him almost made him black out. He wondered about these flashes of a life he'd never have, where he'd come up with such a woman like was in these dreams, and realized he had seen her at the base camp after escaping from the Hydra base. She'd been talking to the man who'd saved them, Captain America, he learned later. He'd seen a woman as he was being escorted to the medical tent with a few minor wounds, and she'd stuck in his head. Where he'd heard her name he had no idea. 

"Jesus Christ." He heard a someone whistle as he was being loaded into the jeep. 

"Shh!" The nurse, the wise young woman who found him hissed. "How about you not send him into shock faster? He goes into shock and the certainty of him dying skyrockets. So kindly shut your trap before we return to camp, or I will gleefully tell Colonel Philips how you were responsible for this young man and several others dying from shock due to your careless mouth." 

Daniel decided he liked this girl very much. 

He heard the man scoff and sit back, and the girl shift to sit next to the stretcher. One other gurney was put into the back, and they were off. 

The pain was still unbearable, the idea of a painkiller overruled by the risk of him, during his sleep, slipping into a coma. He resisted the urge to scream in pain but it was getting more and more difficult. Suddenly he felt a wooden rod, a small one, put between his teeth. He opened his eyes slightly and saw the young woman looking down at him, her face warped with concern, paler than before. 

"Go ahead." She murmured. "It will help with the pain. Scream, but scream with the wood in your mouth. It will dull the sound."

So he screamed. He screamed and screamed and cursed the universe for landing him in the back of a jeep, in the middle of a war torn country back road, in excruciating pain. He cursed the universe for letting him die at 23 years old. He cursed the universe for giving him images of a life he'd never have.

"Fuck!" The other nurse in the back of the jeep, the one Daniel had not known was there until that moment, scrambled around. He heard the man next to him in the other gurney grunt, then scream. He dared a look when he heard thumping next to him and saw the man go into a seizure. "Fuck, he's dying! No no no no. I can't lose another one. Stay with me sir, come on! Stay with me!" In the far distance he heard something that made his blood run cold. The tell tale sound of a missile flying through the air. The others heard it too. He heard a small amount of chaos, felt the jeep jerk violently. 

The last thing he saw before the jeep veered violently off the road and down into the stream was his nurse lunging forward over him to grab at a rope used to hold violent patients down in the back, and then...darkness.

"Daniel?" He heard someone call in the dark, so distant,  so so far away.

_"Pai?" The voice of a little girl, worried._

"Daniel, dear wake up." A woman, like the one in his dreams of the future.

_"Pai? Você está bem? Pai?" The little girl. 'Father? Are you okay? Father?'_

"Daniel, darling wake up, you're having a nightmare." 

"Pai!" The air went out of his lungs and his eyes shot open to see a little girl, her black curls and wide, dark brown eyes, looking at him in worry from her spot laying down on his chest. Just like her mother.

Just like her mother...

"Daniel?" He blinked and looked to his right, seeing her...Peggy...his wife of seven years now, looking at him with concern and confusion. 

"I ...I was dreaming about the day I was...the day I lost my leg." Daniel explained. The confusion went away from Peggy's face, but her concern did not. 

"I shouldn't have said anything the other day. I'm sorry. It's just that man was being insufferable, and he really had such a mouth on him. Implying you were a coward for not being over there until the end, the nerve of him and people like him make me sick, I ..." Peggy stopped when she felt his right hand's fingers snake over and lace up with her left hand, and grip it firmly. 

"It's fine Peggy. Really. I hope I didn't scare the two of you too badly." 

"You were crying Pai." Angela...Angie, their daughter, had such a serious expression on her tiny, still slightly rounded, face that it was almost comical. 

"Angie dear, why don't you go get your Pai the card you made him yesterday when you were staying with the Jarvis'? I'm sure it'd make him feel much, much better." Peggy suggested. Angie's eyes lit up and she pushed herself up on Daniel's chest, her tiny hands gripping his nightshirt. 

"Would you like that Pai? Would you like to see what I made you?" 

"Yes dear, I would like that quit a bit." Daniel replied, carefully pushing himself into a sitting position, gently holding onto his daughter as he moved. Angie beamed at him and nodded, her wild black curls, courtesy of Daniel's side of the family, flying freely around her head. Carefully, Angie got off the bed and then flew out of the room in search of her creation. Peggy smiled affectionately at the door before turning back to her husband, the affectionate smile still there, but with the addition of concern once again.

"Are you alright? And don't lie to me Daniel, you're dreadful when it comes to lying to me." Daniel blushed and that made her laugh. She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms around him, holding him close.

"I don't dream about it as often as I used to." Daniel admitted after a moment of silence. " It's rare now." 

" There are some memories we will never forget. Some wounds that will never heal. I hope you are not finding folly in your remembering such a day Daniel, anyone would remember such a day." She placed a kiss on his shoulder, and then his neck, and then his cheek. 

"I'm not." He replied honestly. " It's just...not a pleasant thing to remember so...vividly." 

"I know." Peggy  shifted a bit so she was still close to him, but was now sitting more upright. " I'm sorry love."

"I know, thank you." He looked down at their intertwined fingers and squeezed them lightly, which got him a return squeeze. 

"Found it!" Angie announced, bursting into the room with a flourish. She certainly acted a lot like her namesake, something that filled her parents with a bit of dread, and filled one Miss Angela Martinelli with glee. She practically jumped onto the bed, careful as ever not to hurt either of them too much, and crawled up to sit on Daniel's other side. "Here Pai! Happy Father's Day!" Peggy smiled at her, and Daniel smiled at the card before him. 

His future was bright, not a fever dream but real, tangible, and perfect. He wished, to some extent, that he could somehow go back in time and tell his past self , as he lie in agony in the cot at the medical tent, that he'd be alright. He'd get married and have a family, he'd be respected (Eventually.) and live a good life. Maybe it would have helped, but he probably would have considered it madness back then, and who could blame him?

As he was opening the card, after studying the picture his daughter had drawn on the front, complete with glue and a considerable amount of glitter ("Uncle Howard said that glitter makes everything better!" Angie explained , upon seeing the expression on her father's face. "Oh of course he did. It's lovely." He replied, mentally cursing Howard Stark to hell. The glitter would take forever to get off the blankets.) a shrill cry rang through the house. 

"Eddie's awake!" Angie announced, beaming. Peggy smiled and rolled her eyes at her husband's smirk.

"Oh no, I'll get him." Peggy said in a mocking tone, getting off the bed and walking over to the door.

"I don't have my leg on yet, what do you want me to do? Hop to his room?" Daniel called back. "Arrr, hi there Eddie, it's me Pirate Pai." 

"Hilarious dear, hilarious." Peggy shouted from the hallway. 

"Happy Father's Day Pai!" Angie kissed him on the cheek and wrapped her small arms as far as she could around her father's torso. Daniel felt his heart bloom with warmth. He set the card down on his other side and took his daughter into his arms, hugging her tightly. 

"Thank you love." 

Yes, his future was very bright indeed. He'd been back in a nightmare, but he always had Peggy, Angie, and Eddie to bring him back to the light.

 


	24. The Trouble Is, Neither Had Green Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from a commenter, lucy, either jealous!Peggy or jealous!Daniel. I decided to do a little of both.

* * *

 

Daniel rolled his neck in an attempt to get the stiffness that had been gathering there over the hours to go away. It did, but very little, and it just added to the list of things that were currently annoying him. They'd been on this stake-out for almost two days with no break in sight, and he couldn't help but wonder if there was any point to it. The S.S.R. and newly formed S.H.I.E.L.D. had teamed up on a case that had started out as an old S.S.R. cold case and turned into a current S.H.I.E.L.D. problem, involving human trafficking and a rather brutal drug lord.  Peggy and Daniel had been put on the task of watching over the warehouse out in the countryside, where it was suspected the kidnapped people were being held. From a discreet distance, in a seemingly abandoned farmhouse, they had set up and waited for an incriminating act to occur, but so far, the people had been extra careful. It wasn't cold in the house, nor were they want for any food or other comforts. Where the S.S.R. would have fallen short, S.H.I.E.L.D., with Howard Stark as a funder, had stepped up. No, his annoyances came from other more trivial, as some may say, manners. Thompson had let the new position get to his head, not that Daniel was all that surprised, and had made his life hell at the office. The trade had been the camaraderie felt among the 'underlings', banding together with their unconcealed distaste on how Thompson was handling his reign of the place. Thompson worked everyone to the bone, but had, in the last month or so, targeted Daniel for whatever reason, and worked him harder than any of them, as if he were punishing him. For what, he was unsure, but it was still hell. He wondered if the position did that to everyone. Dooley hadn't been a 100% stellar boss, but he had been decent enough to Daniel at times. He wondered if his old boss had been just as bad as Thompson was now when he'd started out. His mother would always tell him that forgiveness of one's enemies was the greatest revenge of all, but at the time, Daniel was settling for good old fashioned hatred. He was facing issues with his landlord, who had decided all of a sudden that he was a colossal racist (Although Daniel had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with the prim, snobbish looking woman he'd often seen with his landlord, the Upper East Side type who detested minorities of any kind.) and had jacked up Daniel's rent considerably, sending him memos and other warnings that Daniel was breaking codes he'd never heard of in his three years of living there, and that his presence in the building was making other 'upstanding residents' uncomfortable. (Read: The fact that he was of Portuguese heritage was upsetting the prim snobbish woman, even though over half the tenants in the building were Portuguese, and Daniel had never had any issue with any of them.)  Add all that to his usual struggles with his leg, ableist comments from random strangers, and the fact that he was in love with a woman he didn't exactly have a chance with, and you have a rather annoyed young man.

Oh right, and now his neck hurt. Lovely. 

He had a history, it seemed, of falling for the wrong girl. Not that they were bad or sketchy or anyone his mother would have disapproved of, but rather, they were unattainable, unreachable, bound to break his heart one way or another. His mother mourned his misfortune, his sisters pitied him, his brother referred to him as a poor bastard, and his best friend David would shake his head and be ready with a bottle of cheap whiskey and a listening ear. For Daniel had the rather bad habit of falling for girls who were in love with someone else, or had been in love with someone else, or in one case, realized they'd never loved him and found their love while he had been away at war. He wondered what it was that kept attracting him to girls such as these, the types he knew would never be able to give him their heart fully, forever having a piece out in the world belonging to someone else. In a way he figured it was just some sort of cosmic joke, and he was the overused punchline. He wondered what had possessed him to ask her for drinks those two odd months ago, his momentary bit of courage slowly dispelling as the weeks passed and she hadn't taken up the rain check. He had wondered if he was supposed to offer again, but everyone, including his sisters, told him no, that would seem desperate. She'd been through a lot, don't push it. Let her come to you in her own time. 

But it had been two months. 

He knew a brush off when he saw one, he'd gotten them often enough. 

"This is the most boring stakeout I've ever experienced, and I once did one where we watched some granny's house because it was believed she was stealing milk from a neighbor when I was in training." Peggy said suddenly, making Daniel turn his head to the young woman sitting next to him by the window. Her face matched her tone of voice, bored to the extreme and in need of some form of entertainment or release from their current situation. "We were on that stakeout for four days and I didn't find out until later that the only reason we were on it was because she was the gran of my commanding officer at the time. He thought there would be a scandal if she had been stealing. Imagine that in the headlines, 'Granny of Respected Army Officer Nicks Milk From Neighbor'. Hardly the scandal he thought it would be." Daniel laughed at this and Peggy smiled, turning her attention from the window and the binoculars she'd been using, to look at him. 

"Oh come on Carter, drug lords, human trafficking, a warehouse in the middle of the country, being cooped up for days on end. It's a dream. It is the most exciting thing ever. In fact, a few hours ago, I saw one of the men come outside and have a smoke break. For a whole five minutes. Absolutely thrilling. Maybe he's connected with your old milk stealing granny." Daniel laughed and then moved a bit as to avoid Peggy's swinging hand attempting to make contact with his arm. Peggy laughed as well and rolled her eyes. 

"Well at least this time I have better company." Peggy commented, settling back in her chair and turning her attention back to the window before her. Daniel felt himself blush, and instantly felt like a silly young mad in school again. 

They lapsed into a rather comfortable silence, the odd tension that had been in the room a few minutes before, gone, much to Daniel's delight. It was Peggy who broke the silence first, a rather rosy blush creeping up her neck as she coughed and then turned back to him once again. Daniel raised an eyebrow and shifted in his seat, taking up the binoculars himself. He was listening, but one of them had to be watching the warehouse at all times, something Peggy knew very well. 

"Daniel, I'm about to ask you a question whose answer could potentially cause me a great deal of embarrassment, but I feel like I must ask it anyway, for my own dignity, or rather..." she paused, biting the inside of her lip in thought. " ...rather my potential lack there of if I am correct. All I hope is that whatever the answer, our working relationship is not harmed by it nor would you resent me for it either. I quite like working with you Daniel, in fact, I wasn't supposed to tell you this yet but bugger it all, Colonel Philips, Stark, and myself are in the middle of stealing you from the S.S.R. to come work for S.H.I.E.L.D.. Thompson isn't happy about that but I couldn't give a toss about Thompson's comfort."  

This caught his attention, and Daniel decided, especially due to the heavy snowfall that had blocked the roads and caused everyone and everything to become immobile, that he could risk a few minutes of not watching the warehouse. He turned to her, eyes questioning. 

"I... oh dear, I am not very good at this...I was wondering if...if you'd...if you'd met someone, and that was why you haven't asked me out again." Her face was turning a shade of pink, and Daniel sat there, stunned. She continued quickly before he could speak. "It's just that it's been a couple of months and I didn't want to press by asking myself. I know our relationship is still on the mend from the whole affair with Stark. Neither of us handled that situation very well. I know it's hard to trust anyone these days, and I... I just wanted to know if you...still... if you still fancied me or if you've found someone else. I understand if you have. Or if you haven't and just have changed your mind. I know that..."  Peggy buried her head in her shoulders, still blushing. "I am _rubbish_ at this." she mumbled. 

"I...Peggy...what...what makes you believe I met someone else? Because I haven't asked you out again? Surely you have more backing than that." Daniel asked, trying to bite back the smile that was fighting to surface. Peggy's eyes peaked out from above her crossed arms and she sighed, sitting up. 

" I went to your neighborhood...remember, I accompanied you home after your hospital stay, and I...I saw you coming out of your apartment building with this rather lovely looking young woman. You looked so happy and carefree, in a way I haven't seen you be in such a long time, and I felt... I felt like I was intruding. I felt ashamed for arriving without calling first. It served me right I suppose, but I..."

"A young woman? How long ago was this?" 

"A few days after I had to take the rain check on our da...on the drinks." Peggy mumbled, unable to meet his eyes. Daniel's eyebrows went up, and the smile that had been creeping up was now fully on his face. 

"Was her hair up, wearing a navy and pink dress, white headband?" Peggy nodded."Black hair?" A nod. "Did she seem to know me well? Walk on the side of me without the bum leg?" Another nod. "Was this around noon?" And another. Daniel started laughing, much to Peggy's dismay, and he had to prop his head up with one of his hands, arms resting on the table, to keep it from falling all together. 

"I hardly see why this is so funny Daniel." Peggy's voice was indignant, mixed with a touch of hurt and confusion, but it took a few minutes for him to compose himself. 

"It is though Peggy, it is. That wasn't some random girl I'd taken a fancy to, that was my sister Isabela. She'd come to tell me she was engaged and I was taking her out to lunch as a celebration." Peggy's blush grew deeper, and she sat back in her chair, perplexed. "I hadn't asked again because everyone advised me not to, including Isabela. She pointed out that I shouldn't push such things and that you just don't get over an experience like the one you had easily. If you were ready and wanting my attention, you'd come to me. Or so everyone seemed to believe." 

"Well then, we seem to have gotten ourselves into quite the mishap." Peggy commented, her face still slightly red. 

"That we have. I figured you didn't...I believed you weren't interested. I have this habit of falling for women who end up being unavailable for one reason or another. In one case, there was this girl I was absolutely mad about, we were going to get engaged and then...I got drafted." Peggy nodded encouragingly. "I came home with a bunch of medals, including a purple heart, and a guilty feeling almost fiance who informed me through her tears that she'd met someone else while I was away and was in love." Peggy frowned. "She did offer to break it off with him and marry me. Out of duty and a promise we'd made each other before I had left, but of course that was ridiculous. I couldn't let her do that, it wasn't right." Peggy took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly, a soft smile on her lips. 

"Daniel... at one point I may have been one of those girls. It is quite difficult to get over your first real love, but I cannot dwell over such things. Nor have I. I've said my goodbyes to Steve for good, and I intend to live my life to it's fullest. He's my past, a fancy that never got the chance to fully blossom, and therefore, the idea of keeping it alive when it is doomed to wilt is rather ridiculous. I have a very bright future looking at me Daniel I and believe...yes, I know for a fact even, that one of the things that helped me heal from that whole affair with the blood samples, was knowing I had good friends and support waiting for me at home and in other places, and that the idea of a future with a wonderful man and possibly even a...family... was waiting for me as well. With a wonderful man already in my life." Daniel was blushing now, making Peggy laugh with delight. 

"Oh really, a wonderful man?" 

"Oh yes." Peggy replied, pulling her chair over to sit closer to him and taking both his hands once again. "He's very kind and intelligent. Devastatingly good looking if I do say so myself. I have even experienced, in the past months, a sort of flutter in my heart and stomach whenever I see him, it's rather annoying. Especially since we've gotten into a few fights since that flutter started. Quite difficult to argue with someone when there's a tiny voice in the back of your head telling you to kiss them." Daniel's blush deepened and a smirk graced Peggy's lips. She leaned even closer, and ,carefully and deliberately, whispered into his ear. " So what say you to a drink when we get out of here? At my place? I can assure you it is much more comfortable than any bar." She heard him gulp and smirked, still close to him, hand resting on his shoulder. "Daniel?" 

"Y-yeah. Yes. Sure. That sounds great." Peggy smirked again and sat back, grabbing the binoculars from the table and peering out the window. 

"Good god, Daniel, call Thompson and his lot, the warehouse doors just opened and there are large snowmobiles hauling these trailers coming out of them. I do believe they're on the move." 

 

The end. 


	25. Two Sides Of The Same Coin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from AO3 member Keerava "The actor that plays Daniel, Enver Gjokaj, has a twin brother, what if Daniel had a twin too. Peggy sees the brother, thinking its Daniel, walking fine on both legs. You decide her reaction :)".

* * *

 

If you asked Peggy Carter if she was nervous about meeting Daniel's family, she'd deny it till the end of time, but the truth was she _was_ nervous. She wasn't worried that they  might be mean or heartless or any of that, Daniel had told her plenty of stories about them, enough for her to be assured that they were a wonderfully warm hearted bunch. His mother especially, she recalled him telling her once, loves to feed people and make them happy, so be ready to stuff yourself past full with food. She (his mother) would be hurt if she (Peggy) refused anything. Everyone was excited that she was coming, to the point where everyone in the immediate family, his two brothers and their families, and his three sisters, two with families, one just out of high school, would be there. His living grandparents would be there. The aunts and uncles living in the city would be there. Thankfully, due to the volume of the get together, one aunt was able to get an event room in her apartment building rented for the occasion. Which just made Peggy even more nervous. All these people were so loving and accepting and _excited_ to meet her, and she felt like she was going to somehow disappoint them. 

She didn't tell Daniel this however, because, knowing him, he'd call the whole thing off if he knew she was uncomfortable. And what was even worse was that the family would understand, from what he'd told her, which made her feel _even worse_. She was terrified that she was going to be a disappointment to Daniel's rather extensive, caring, loving family. And if she was a disappointment to them, well...whose to say she wouldn't eventually be a disappointment to Daniel? He was a family oriented man from what she's noticed. Not that he'd ever push to have children, in fact they'd had this conversation in a casual sense before they'd even started dating. No, he just...loved his family. They were all supportive and wonderful, a very tight knit bunch. 

She knew, on some level, that she was being _slightly_ ridiculous. She and Daniel hadn't even discussed the idea of getting married yet, they'd only been dating for about six months now, but...something in her heart, as cheesy as it sounded, was so sure about Daniel. More sure than she'd ever felt before, even with Steve.  For all the hardships she'd endured, the pain of the war, losing Steve, and coming to the States and dropping in the ranks as to who is respected and who isn't, she was sure she was on the right path now. She was sure, somehow, that she was meant to meet Daniel, meant to work with him, meant to fall in love with him.

Love.

Dear god, she hadn't yet told Daniel she loved him. She was sure she did now, more than sure. She was also pretty sure Daniel loved her too, but Daniel being Daniel didn't rush her in any way, and that was part of why she loved him. She felt like a mess. 

"We're here!" Daniel said excitedly as he opened the cab door and got out, Peggy sliding out behind him. The apartment building was nice, not extremely fancy, Howard Stark level nice, but nice enough to impress Peggy quite a bit. Daniel's aunt must have a spectacularly paying job to afford such a place. She had half a mind to ask her what she did, maybe she could switch careers. As they mounted the stairs, a bit more slowly than Peggy would have if she were alone, Peggy felt her stomach churning in her nervousness. In her mind she kept telling herself everything would be alright, she'd be fine, but she just kept feeling a sense of dread that refused to go away. They walked down a hallway that jetted off from the lobby, and she saw a room with glass doors and people inside, muffled music in the distance. They were about 100 feet from the door when she saw a blur of pale blue and a flash of black hair run towards the door, burst it open, and run right at them. 

"DANNY!" the young girl, Daniel's youngest sister Isabela Peggy guessed, screamed as she collided with her big brother, nearly knocking him on his ass. Daniel laughed and hugged her closely, and Peggy felt herself smile at the sight. She didn't get to see him be a family person much, despite his devotion to his family. They were all so busy these days that get togethers were sparse. 

"Irmãzinha! Olá, como vai você?" Daniel asked, putting the arm with his good leg around her and her snatching his cane and helping him along. Peggy followed silently ,enjoying watching him with his sister. 

"Bom! Você está atrasado!" Isabela's tone indicated a teasing mock, and Peggy made a mental note to ask Daniel later what she'd said, because her words made him blush. 

"Trânsito..." Daniel began. Isabela rolled her eyes at his words and bumped open the door. 

"Correto." Another tone of sarcasm, this time making Daniel bump her hip with his, which made her laugh. "Eles chegaram!" she shouted to the room, causing them all to become silent. All eyes turned to Peggy and Daniel, and Peggy felt that nervousness return full force. Everyone was staring. There was a pregnant pause and then an older , slightly shorter version of Isabela came towards them with remarkable speed, grinning widely. 

"Get ready to get hugged so hard you'll think you're going to suffocate." Daniel muttered to her as the woman neared.

"Wha...oof!" The woman wrapped her arms around Peggy's torso and squeezed so tight she did indeed feel like she was going to suffocate. She heard Daniel and Isabela laugh, and the older lady still holding on for dear life apparently. 

"Mamãe! Mamãe, let her go, you'll choke her to death and I am quite fond of her." Daniel injected, after seeing Peggy's face start to go red. The woman let go, although, Peggy noted, with some reluctance, and looked up at her, beaming. 

"It is lovely to finally meet you Ms. Carter! Daniel has told us so much about you and your accomplishments!"

"So, so, sooooo much." Isabela added. "Seriously. Right after you started working with him it started. He'd call the apartment to talk to Mamãe like he does every week and I don't think there has been a phone call since where he hasn't mentioned you at least five ti...ouch! Don't  pinch me you brat!" Isabela hissed at her brother, who was glaring at her. 

"You are the one who is a brat." Daniel countered. 

"Enough the two of you, enough!" Mrs. Sousa chimed in, sensing an oncoming argument between her children. "Come, come Ms. Carter! Come sit down and drink and eat, and meet the family!" Mrs. Sousa linked her right arm with Peggy's left and directed her towards a large table near the middle of the room by the wall. The music had resumed and people were talking once more. Peggy counted at least thirty, maybe more. Daniel's family really was extensive. 

Peggy was surprised, mostly with herself, by how quickly she relaxed among so many people she'd never met, and how quickly she was made to feel like a member of the family. Mrs. Sousa piled a plate for her high with food, and , remembering what Daniel had told her, ate everything on it, and everything on the second plate she'd brought her. Daniel eventually got up to go say hello to some relatives, and Peggy fell into an easy, delightful conversation with Daniel's oldest sister, Marie. Twenty minutes later, she saw him on the dance floor, dancing with Isabela, who was laughing and squealing with pleasure. The band had struck up a rather upbeat tune, and they were a sight to behold. Isabela was about the same height as Daniel and they looked comically alike. Her pale blue dress and dark locks flying around her smiling face, his equally bright expression and dark hair. They were an undeniably stunning pair. Everyone was watching them and smiling themselves. But what struck Peggy the most was the fact that he was moving so effortlessly, as if he didn't have a false leg. Peggy had been born a Catholic, but quickly denounced their ways, even before she'd had her experiences in the war, however, the sight that beheld her was nothing less than a miracle, she was sure of that. She was utterly speechless. She knew he hadn't been faking his injury, she'd seen the leg, seen him take it off and put it on, she'd even seen it before they'd started dating, while she was staying with him in the hospital after he'd been gassed with that awful, hate filling substance. What had happened? Had Stark finished the new prosthetic that he always swore to Peggy he was designing especially for him and he hadn't told her? Had a miracle actually happened and granted him his leg back? 

Was this a sign? A sign that she'd been right about her feelings? A sign that she should tell him right away exactly how she felt? As she watched them dance, a million things ran through her mind and made her heart beat fast. He was moving so effortlessly that he could fool anyone into thinking he'd never lost a leg at all. Peggy was almost considering starting to attend church once again, she was so struck by the sight before her. As the music started to wind down, Peggy was considering getting up from her seat and going over to him when she heard a voice behind her.

" Good god, Nathaniel always has to be such a show off doesn't he? At every single get together." She knew that voice, she knew it well. She knew that voice better than she knew her own. She'd heard that voice talk down suspects, joke around, and whisper to her little things in the night. She revelled in the sound of her name on that voice's lips. Daniel sat down in the chair he'd abandoned next to Peggy, to the sound of his sister Marie laughing at his comment. 

"You know Nate, he has to make a spectacle. And Isabela is always a willing dance partner." Marie commented, smiling at her brother. 

" I thought he'd never arrive. And Isabela got on _my_ case for being late. When did he get here?" Daniel asked, grabbing a piece of sweet bread from the basket on the table.

"Twenty minutes ago. You were talking to Mamãe."

"I see."

"I'm sorry..." Peggy began, her expression one of true confusion. "...what...who...?" Daniel turned his head towards her, and then in the direction of her flabbergasted eyesight, and he laughed.

"My twin brother, Nathaniel. I told you I had a twin Peggy. Almost a year ago, that night we were stuck at the office and we played that truths game?" And then she remembered, he had indeed told her. She'd had a rough day and so had he, and they were stuck at the office doing mounds of paperwork, of which they eventually became bored with. They had began playing the truths game, giving little tidbits about their lives to the other. She remembered it as the night she knew she could trust him.

"I ...I forgot." She admitted, sheepishly. Daniel smiled at her and took her left hand, the one closest to him, and kissed it, before giving it a squeeze and returning it to the table, still linked with his.

Nathaniel came over to the table and proceeded to make fun of his brother in a way that only a sibling can, causing her love to glare at him the entire rest of the night. As she and Daniel stepped out into the cold night's air and waited for a cab, Peggy felt her arm tighten around his, drawing him closer.

"I had a wonderful time Daniel." She admitted, resting her head on his shoulder. He smiled.

"I'm glad. They all loved you."

"Well I'm certainly relieved to hear that. Wouldn't want the in-laws to hate me before I even become official." Peggy said it before she could stop herself, and she felt Daniel's posture change. She brought her head off his shoulder and looked at him, her expression horrified. "I mean...I...I know we haven't...I know you...and we haven't even...but..." She was cut off by Daniel leaning over and kissing her soundly, pulling her closer. Peggy tensed for a split second, before relaxing and winding her arms around his neck. When they broke away, Peggy blushed.

"I love you." Daniel whispered after a minute of silence. "I know you're not entirely there yet, and I know that there's a chance you might not ever be..."

"I love you too." Peggy replied, feeling a bit ridiculous at the tears that began to well up. She kissed him again, quickly, and looked at him, smiling. "I love you Daniel. I've known for awhile but I was so...I've been so scared and ..."

"I understand." They stood there for a few minutes before Peggy commented that it was getting dreadfully late and cold, and Daniel flagged down a cab. They got in and Daniel laced their connecting hands' fingers together. They were starting a new life, a new journey, and they were in it together all the way. 

The following week, Peggy received a parcel in the mail from Isabela, and saw inside, much to her delight and Angie's astonishment, a photo of Daniel and his twin at some celebration when they were younger. She put it in a frame and put it up in their living room. When Daniel came for dinner that day, Peggy caught him looking at the photo and smiling, and Peggy decided then and there that she would learn more about the other side of the same coin that was the Sousa twins. 

The end. 
    
    
      
    


	26. Have A Holly Jolly Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Christmas time at the Carter-Sousa household, and peace and quiet most certainly is not reigning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Prompt from Tumblr user "claras-wintersoldier" , ' ...Christmas with the Carter-Sousa's?'.

* * *

 

' _Have a holly jolly Christmas,_

_It's the best time of the year,_

_I don't know if there'll be snow,_

_But have a cup of cheer_...'

"Daniel, could you turn the radio down just the tiniest bit?"  Peggy called up the stairs to the library " Philips is on the phone!" 

"Yes! Sorry!" Daniel called back, turning the dial down a bit on the radio nearby. 

"Pai?" The hair was Peggy's but the eyes were all him. Little Angela 'Angie' Colleen Carter-Sousa was eleven  years old and while her looks were all them, she acted frighteningly similar to her namesake, of which she spent as much time with as she could. Edwin 'Eddie' Steven Carter-Sousa was six, and he too acted comically like his namesake. Prim and proper, with a hint of Peggy's accent and a want to learn how to cook (Something Anna Jarvis indulged, safely of course.). He did act a lot like his father though, although Daniel didn't see it as much, Peggy insisted. ' Daniel are you kidding me? He has your smile and your charm. And that thing you do when you're trying to concentrate, where you tap one of your fingers on the table...' 

"Yes dear?" 

"Are Uncle Howard and Aunt Maria coming over this year for Christmas?" Angie asked, looking at him from her spot on the couch across from him, a book open in her lap. Eddie was sitting at the desk nearby, his full concentration on a drawing he was making as a present to 'His Uncle Commandos' as he often shortened the list of honorary uncles that were currently working in Sweden. 

"I believe we are spending Christmas Day with them in the afternoon and staying for the weekend." Daniel replied, eying his daughter. He wondered if his friend and his daughter were planning another prank. They still couldn't find the final cymbal monkey toy from last year, and Daniel was sure she knew where it was. Somewhere in the attic. He'd hear the stupid thing every once in awhile when she was home. 

"Oh, good. I like spending time with them and the Jarvis'. Mr. Jarvis said he'd teach me how to clean a gun." Daniel choked on the coffee he'd been drinking, causing Eddie to look over at them, his face concerned. 

"Pai are you alright? Do I need to get Mama?" Eddie, the kind, concerned boy he was, was already moving to get out of his chair. 

"I'm...I'm fine Eddie, go back to drawing." Daniel replied, still coughing and sputtering. Eddie eyed him suspiciously, unsure if his father really was fine, before shrugging and readjusting himself back on the chair. "Angie, dear, why is Mr. Jarvis teaching you how to clean a gun?"

"He told me it was a practical skill." Angie replied, so nonchalantly that it was as if they talked about things like this every day. During breakfast. Casually. 

"I..."

"What's a practical skill?" Peggy appeared in the doorway carrying a tray of tea and some food, her expression loving and amused. 

"Knowing how to clean a gun apparently." Daniel replied, putting his coffee cup aside. 

"I suppose it is." Peggy agreed, getting the different cups of tea ready for the members of her family. Plain for Daniel, lemon for Angie, cream and sugar for Eddie. 

"For an eleven year old?" Daniel pondered aloud. Peggy paused, now sitting next to her husband on the couch, her own cup of plain tea paused halfway to her lips.

"An eleven year old? Angie? Who wants to teach Angie how to clean a gun?"

"Uncle Edwin." Angie replied simply. 

"Well..." 

"What did we get him and Anna again this year?"

"That lovely cherry wood mantle clock." Peggy replied, smiling into her cup. "The one Anna said she liked so much when we all went out that one time." She knew Daniel would never say or do anything bad against Anna, whom he'd grown very close to over the years. When he curse 'Merda!' under his breath, Peggy burst out laughing, setting her cup down on the table in front of them before reaching over and giving him a kiss on the cheek. She heard her children's usually 'Eewwww's and her heart felt full. She sat back and leaned over the other side of her to turn the radio back up, Bing Crosby's voice now singing about white Christmases and dreaming about them. She looked at the fire crackling near them, the stockings they had all hung up on nails, away from the flames. 

Twenty years ago, at the end of the war, Peggy had been struggling. The war was over, so her services at the side of Colonel Philips was coming to an end. Steve was gone and the Commandos were set to go out in Europe and round up any enemies who were thinking of retaliation. Howard was going back to the United States. She didn't know where to go back then, where she belonged. Where she would be in twenty years.

She didn't think she'd be living in a nice house with spectacular security in Massachusetts, two lovely children, a wonderful, handsome, loving husband, and a good job where she was well respected. She never thought she'd be as in love as she had been with Steve again. She wondered how her past self would react if someone told her she'd find someone, meet him in the next couple of years, fall in love with him, and be more happy than she ever thought some day. 

" _If you can't find somebody, who will set your heart a-whirl!_ " Peggy blinked at the sound of her daughter singing along with the radio. Bing Crosby's 'Happy Holiday' was now flowing through the radio and Angie had dragged Eddie from his chair, dancing with him. He tried to look annoyed but she could see the light in his eyes and the smile he was fighting was winning the battle. " _Get in your car and motor to, the home of boy meets girl_!" 

"This is perfect." Peggy commented, leaning on Daniel and putting her head on his shoulder. 

"What is?" Daniel asked, picking back up the book he'd been perusing before, leaning his own head on hers. 

"This. Us. Our family. Our life." Daniel smiled and laced the fingers of her right hand with his left, bringing them up to his lips and kissing them, before returning them comfortably between them. 

"I agree." 

The fire crackled, the kids continued to dance and sing along to the radio, and all was well. 

 

The End. 


	27. Proven Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She never adhered to the whole construct of soulmates. In a world where you were completely colorblind until you met your soulmate, Peggy had fought pretty hard with herself and the world to not conform to it, saying she saw color when she didn't. When she met Steve she didn't see the color right away, but she chalked that up to a fluke in the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I've never done a soul-mate AU so I figured why not? I've always loved the colorblind-until-you-meet-your-soulmate ones. 
> 
> P.S. Some sort of spoilers for season 2.

* * *

 

She never adhered to the whole construct of soulmates. In a world where you were completely colorblind until you met your soulmate, Peggy had fought pretty hard with herself  and the world to not conform to it, saying she saw color when she didn't. 

Her mother would tell the story about the moment she saw her father for the first time. How they had been at a festival in Cornwall  and suddenly the black and white world turned vibrant blue, red, green, yellow, and purple. Colors Peggy had never seen before. Colors she adamantly believed she would never see. She was determined to prove this colorblind soulmate phenomenon wrong. 

Which is why when she met Steve Rogers, she was sure she'd finally proved the universe wrong. Her falling in love with him was gradual, but she didn't deny that it was happening as it was happening. Even before he became Captain America, she felt more than a little bit for him. She liked his spirit and soul, she liked his kind eyes and strong sense of morality. She liked how brave he was in the face of adversity. 

The only thing was that her entire world was still in black and white.

No matter. All this proved was that the colorblind theory wasn't perfect. She'd found her soulmate and still saw the world in blacks, whites, and greys. 

Almost a year passes and Steve is in Europe leading the Howling Commandos. Peggy falls more in love with him every week, and wonders, for the first time in her life, if the idea of settling down someday, getting married, having kids, finding a house in the country , all of it, might not be as bad as she thought it would.

They are in Germany, tucked away relatively safely in a valley heavy with tall trees. It is winter and they have a report of over a thousand men stuck behind enemy lines. The situation seemed hopeless, even for the Commandos, but much to even Peggy's surprise, they returned, and the amount of tents, cots, and heaters they thought they needed had to be doubled by a nearby ally. She had been incredibly stressed out. The war had been getting worse and worse, and despite the victories they had been achieving, more and more men and women were dying. Children were dying.  In village bombings, shootings, accidents. The camps. While they had been gone, a report of a village thirty miles away being raided for supplies, people dying, losing everything, reached them. As much as she regretted the thoughts later, she almost wished that the Commandos had left the soldiers to fend for themselves and stayed. They could have saved the village. Maybe. 

She walks (storms) over to a med tent where she saw Steve and Bucky helping a young man with dark hair in to. They were helping the mystery soldier, his arm sporting a gash, an injury on his side, but a faint smile on his face, when she finally reached them. She felt a pang of guilt when she saw him, the rational part of her brain knowing this man had been through hell, and deserved to rest and heal. But the anger she had felt over the village, over the deaths of all these people, over how hopeless the situation felt, surged through her, and the small, faint smile that the man was sporting turned mocking in her mind. 

"Hello Carter!" Bucky greeted warmly, the smile on his face when he saw her expression. 

"Barnes." she acknowledged, nodding in his direction.

"What's wrong?" Steve asked, seeing the look on her face as well. "Did...wough there buddy, you aren't going anywhere. The nurse will be here in a second, and the doctor after. You took quite a hit out there in the battlefield. Sit." Steve stopped the young man, who looked as if he was going to leave in order to avoid eavesdropping on what looked like it would be an important conversation.

"I don't want to interrupt if ..." he looked up at Peggy at the same time Steve looked back at her, and suddenly...

The red from the blood on the young man became vibrant against his army uniform, a tan color. The golden tint of the lamps set up in the tent illuminated the green tinge of the canvas. Avery, a nurse Peggy had befriended, came down the aisle of beds towards them, a small blue medkit with a red cross in hand, the white of her uniform , the dance of golden tinged shadows flickering against it. The silver pin she wore on the lapel. Her neat red hair pinned up, a pink barrette visible under her cap as she turned around to set the bag on another bed and get things out of it.

She was seeing color.

But how? No, this wasn't alright, she wasn't supposed to see color. That wasn't part of the plan.

"We...a report came in, a village thirty miles away was raided. People are dead. Their supplies are all gone. Houses have been destroyed." Her voice had shaken, her turmoil over the lost and destroyed lives mixing with her confusion and upset over seeing color.

"When?" Steve asked. It had been an innocent and fair question. He deserved to know. Philips would probably send some of them to help the village out. But everything had piled up, her anger taking over her, the confusion, the helplessness. 

"Two days ago." She replied sharply. "When you were out saving this lot." She regretted the words as soon as she had said them. The look of shock and disapproval evident in both Bucky and Steve's faces. What compelled her to say the next thing, she would never be sure of. "These are trained soldiers Steve, what was the point in going to get them? They can fend for themselves. Of course, to manage to get your entire camp stuck behind enemy lines and surrounded does smack of a lack of skill and training." Even she winced at that. The guilt, overwhelming to say the least , washed over her in waves. She'd gone too far. 

"Well," the young man on the cot, now clearly and rightfully angry, Avery next to him on the cot, cotton and wound wash in her hand, mouth slack with shock. " if you guys would arm us better and had deigned to inform us of the potential of attack before we'd been sent into that godforsaken valley where I witnessed two of my men get their heads blown off and nearly died from hypothermia because the funding for our outer protection got cut, we  wouldn't have needed Captain America...no offence Captain," he added, looking at Steve, who shook his head in a 'none taken' way. "to come and save us. Maybe," he started again "if we, the lowly troupes not associated with the 'big picture' game had been supplied as well as we should have, we wouldn't have been trapped. Maybe if we could have found an opening, surrounded by over a thousand German soldiers in a perimeter of ten miles on all sides, slowly closing that distance day by day, thinking about how they might use us as prisoners to get what they want, if we hadn't had our guns and supplies broken by the cold because they hadn't been built to deal with that temperature, we could have saved more. Maybe," he looked her right in the eyes, the anger prominent in a swirl of brown with gold flecks. "if someone had listened to a radio signal we had sent out, telling you all that there was another group of German soldiers going around and raiding villages for supplies, if my friend James hadn't been shot dead trying to run to warn them; we wouldn't have needed rescue." 

Peggy could feel the tears in her eyes blurring her vision, and, nodding, she turned and ran out of the tent. How did he manage to get under her skin like that? She'd heard worse, much worse, from other soldiers. Other soldiers who were her superiors. She'd gotten a rather brutal yelling at when she'd returned with Howard that one night they dropped Steve off over the base. She'd never reacted like this before. So what was going on?

She never saw the man again during the war. More pressing matters had come to light, and as the whole fiasco with Hydra, the tesseract, and losing Steve came to a crashing burn amidst the ending of the war, she forgot all about him. 

She'd heard from reliable sources that if your soulmate died, you stopped seeing colors one by one. When she didn't lose any of the many colors she'd learned and categorized after Steve's  plane went down, she assumed ...believed, that he was still alive. She had confided in Howard about how she hadn't seen the color for ages after she met Steve, and that the world was still as vibrant as it had been in the months since she'd been able to see them. This ended up fueling Stark's want to search for him, and launched a search that would end up costing over a million dollars over the years. She eventually went to the United States and worked for the Brooklyn field office for the S.S.R. . She meets Daniel Sousa, they become friends, and the chaos that is the Stark/Midnight Oil Incident happened. S.H.I.E.L.D. was starting up, and she balanced, to the best of her abilities, both agencies. 

They're sitting in  outdoor chairs on the patio of the mansion Stark owned in Los Angeles, Peggy's assignment in Daniel's...Chief Sousa's L.A. field office drawing to a close, when he said something. 

"Peggy..." he had begun, his eyes on the sparkling of the water in the pool nearby, the light from the house reflecting on it, making it shimmer and glow. 

"Yes Daniel?" 

"Do you...do you see color?" Peggy sucked in a breath at his question. She'd realized, shortly after he'd left the Brooklyn office for his new job, that the colors hadn't gone away, but after a few weeks, they seemed...duller. According to Anna Jarvis, whom Peggy had now met and grown close to, it was an after affect of being separated from your soulmate with the possibility of not being reunited. 

" _You still see color, but it is so dull that the colors seem...it doesn't seem so lovely anymore. The longer you are separated and the more likely it gets that you will never see or be with them again, the duller they get. Edwin and I got seperated for a long time after we came here. He got called off to service back in England, and I stayed here. Howard was kind enough to hire me  as a cook and take me on as a resident. Edwin was gone for almost a year before I saw him again. And as soon as I did...everything became bright again as soon as we hugged each other._ " 

"Yes." She admitted. The colors had dulled for a long time after he'd left. But when she was given the assignment at his office, she noticed that the color of red of her lipstick looked a tiny bit brighter the next morning. When she walked into the bullpen of the floor Daniel's office was on, the bright beiges, oranges, browns, and blues that made up most of the color scheme of the office brightened. When he appeared from the door of his office, stalled momentarily by a young man with a set of papers, it was like the entire world blew up with vibrant colors. When he had come up to her, he looked good. Better. Happier. " _Welcome to L.A. ._ " .She wondered if his colors had grown duller as well or if he'd released that hold. 

"How long?" She knew where he was leading this conversation, and she had a feeling that he knew she knew. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before she replied. 

"I  didn't mean what I said...back in the tent." She offered, skipping a few steps ahead in the inevitable conversation. They had danced around each other for months, the realization of their situation dawning on them earlier than they wanted to admit. The colors didn't go away for her, and they hadn't gone away for him either. 

"You did a bit." Daniel replied,  sipping his drink. 

" Alright, maybe. But...I didn't mean it when I said that I thought saving you and your men was pointless. I'm glad they did." She turned to look at Daniel , who was still seemingly transfixed by the flickers of the water nearby. The dark brown jacket he'd been wearing was off, black vest still on but the red tie undone. The sleeves of his white button up were rolled up. They'd had a rough week and Stark had invited them to a weekend at the mansion in order to escape some of the ruckus. Peggy was both surprised and not so when she agreed so quickly after finding out Daniel had said yes. In the glow of the light reflecting from the pool, Daniel looked handsome. Wonderful. Breathtaking. The light hues of blues and greys bounced off his shirt, and Peggy found herself staring. 

"Do you... I mean... there have been plenty of cases of people who find their soulmates but ultimately decide that... the soulmate thing isn't always romantic. I know of a pair of soulmates who are married to other people because theirs is more of a platonic bond..." Peggy felt fear creep into her at those words. Had he met someone else? Was she too late? But the colors had not dulled, in fact they'd brightened quite a bit since she'd arrived in L.A.. Was he...letting her go? She set her drink down and stood up, noticing him flinch at the action. So he thought he'd messed up. No new person. 

"Daniel, please stand." Daniel got up, slowly, and stood, one arm in the crutch, the other on his side. Peggy walked the two and a half feet between them until she was barely six inches away. Her breath hitched, and she could feel his changing as well. The rise and fall, a bit more rapid now, of both their upper bodies, the air between them, changed. All she wanted to do was reach out and touch him, claim him in some way as hers forever. So she did. Right hand placed so clichely over his heart, she moved even closer, until she could feel his breath in the cold air. She saw his pupils dilate, his breathing become more rapid, she saw the look in his eyes... "Does this feel like something platonic to you?" she asked, resisting the by now, very powerful urge to just lean in and kiss him. 

"No." he replied. 

"I... I love you. It took me a long time to accept, it took me a long time to realize...to realize that the color I saw was because of you. That the reason I kept seeing it was because of you. I want...I want this. I want us. I'm all in if you are..." she leaned a bit more forward, lips barely an inch away from each other. " The only question is, are you?" 

She would deny, if you asked her later, that the cliche of kissing the one you were supposed to be with feeling like coming home, but that's what it felt like. When he leaned forward and captured her lips with his, a feeling of arrival, of peace, of safety that was not defined by physical, but rather emotional and psychological needs, washed over her.

Peggy Carter had spent most of her life so far fighting the tradition of soulmates, trying to prove them wrong. She'd never been so happy to be the one proven wrong herself.

The End.  


	28. Have A Holly Jolly Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peggy. Daniel. A Christmas party at Stark's Malibu mansion. Drunk Howard and Drunk Thompson wanting to play matchmaker. What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Tumblr prompt from several Anons and users nakamura-reishi and scullyscreamcheesebagel , all very similar, which was basically: First kiss, Christmas, and in one case, Thompson playing cupid. Here it is! (Yes, I know I am late with this, now shhhh.)

* * *

 

"Tell me again," Daniel began, leaning back in his chair and trying very hard to squelch the amusement of the scene before them "how it was you managed to trick me into coming to this party Carter?" Peggy laughed at his question and rolled her eyes. Thompson and Stark were currently in the midst of a drunk dance off, both failing spectacularly, but Stark seeming to fair a _bit_ better. ("I've had lessons. When I was younger." he'd admitted to her one day back during the war.) 

"You act like it was such a difficult decision to make. Free alcohol, the expensive stuff, free food, a weekend at a mansion. The chance to witness the beautiful show before us..." she teased. It was Daniel's turn to roll his eyes this time. 

"Don't know if I'd call this beautiful Carter, more like watching two moths throw themselves at a light repeatedly." Daniel quipped. 

"Your mother would think it was funny." Carter shot back. Daniel looked at her with mock shock and horror, and she laughed again. 

"My mother would think anything was funny if she was half as drunk as those two are." 

"Oh please, when your mother came for a visit last month she laughed at a clown at the Pier. She wasn't drunk then and that clown wasn't that funny."

"Whatever Carter, whatever." 

" Speaking of your mother..." Peggy began, eyes still on the men in the middle of the dance floor, currently being laughed at by the remaining guests.

"Yes?"

"You know how she got me alone at the Pier when Marie dragged you to that game booth?"

"Oh no. What did she say?" Daniel asked, the horror in his expression real this time.

"Nothing...nothing bad, not really."

"Not really? What does 'Not really' mean Carter?" Peggy sighed and became very interested in the glass of eggnog Daniel had gotten for her earlier. 

"She asked...if...she asked why..."

"Please don't tell me she brought up Captain Rogers. I told her not to be so inse..."

"No, she didn't bring up Steve, don't worry." Daniel let out the breath he'd been holding in relief. "Although  I wouldn't have minded if she had, honestly. It's okay." At first, after she'd drained the vial, she had some panic inside of her that she had done the wrong thing, that maybe she shouldn't have let go after all. But now...now she knew she was better. She'd never forget him, never stop wondering what happened, but she was moving on. "She asked if you and I were, and I am quoting her here, she asked if '...you and my boy are courting.'" Daniel's look of horror returned, and he pressed himself against the chair, covered his face with his hands, and groaned. This made Peggy laugh again, albeit involuntarily. He peeked through a couple of fingers and couldn't help but grin at her laugh. 

"I'm sorry. She means well..."

"I know. I gave her an honest answer." Peggy assured, grinning. Daniel removed his hands from his face and smiled back, but then he looked at her, curious.

"You're grinning."

"How very observant Sousa. I can see now why you were made chief of...oi that's a perfectly good chocolate you just chucked at me." Peggy reprimanded, picking the chocolate off the table where it'd bounced off onto. She inspected it for a few seconds before shrugging and eating it. 

"Wise ass."

"Language! We are discussing your mother."

"And what is this response you gave my mother? Should I expect calls asking me why I am not courting my friend and colleague?" 

"Well, yes, you should be." Peggy replied promptly. This got another curious look from Daniel. 

"I thought you were honest with her. You set her straight right?"

"I did. Sort of." 

"Sort of?" Neither of them heard the music change, nor did they notice that Stark and Thompson were no longer dancing in a circle of watchers. Christmas melodies swept through the air and people resumed dancing or chatting. They didn't notice the two men watching them from the other side of the room, still drunk, but grinning.

"I...I've never seen a more obvious pair of people in my life." Stark commented, leaning against the wall. "Even with Rogers... it was obvious yeah, but this is just like..."

"Oh god, you aren't in the office every day." Thompson added. "A part of me didn't want to admit it but they are obvious. At least they are n-now."

"Had a little crush on her did ya?" Stark teased, a shit-eating grin on his face. 

"Shut up Stark." Thompson snapped.

"Dear god man, you are blushing." Stark grabbed a drink from the table nearby and downed it before he spoke again. "It's alright. Men usually go crazy for Carter. She is a very pretty wo-wo...lady." 

"Well," Thompson began, resisting the urge to stick his tongue out at the infuriating man. " those two need to go on a date and get it over with. Get married, become a famous couple, have hoards of children..."

"Do you see Carter having a bunch of kids and staying home?" Stark asked, surprised.

"No." Thompson admitted. "But I could see her and Sousa having a couple..."

"You are a romantic sap." Stark replied, laughing. That earned him a whack on the arm from the other man. 

"I got it!" Thompson said loudly, causing a few people to stare. "I g-got it!" Thompson moved slightly over, reaching for a sprig hanging from a ribbon nearby. He failed, miserably, and fell to the ground, which caused more people to stare. 

"You are a mess of a drunk." Stark quipped, helping Thompson back up. Thompson lunged forward and ripping the mistletoe from the ribbon and raising it in the air, triumphant. 

"I got it! I know...I know how we can solve the problem!" 

"Listen, Thompson, I'm flattered but there's this nurse I'm kinda into and..."

"Not for you and me!" Thompson snapped. "For Carter and Sousa!" 

On the other side of the room, Peggy and Daniel looked at each other from across the table, both blushing.

"Peggy..." Daniel ventured.

"Daniel." Peggy replied. 

"What's 'Sort of' Peggy?" 

"Sort of..." Peggy began, taking in a deep breath. " sort of means I said 'I don't know to be honest.'" 

"You told my mother you didn't know why we weren't together?" 

"Yes. I wanted to be truthful with her, so I was." The tension between them increased, and Peggy felt her palms begin to sweat. Maybe there was a bit too much alcohol in the eggnog. She had seen Stark saunter over to the bowl when Anna wasn't looking before the party. "I told her she'd have to ask you because...I didn't...I didn't know why we weren't together yet, because I am definitely interested in a relationship." Peggy scooted her chair closer to him and leaned forward. She could see him sit up straighter, ever so slightly, his pupils dilated, he was breathing harder as well. "So my question I guess is why did you not ask me out again?"

"I... I thought... I mean I asked my sister what I should do and she told me not to push it, that you were ...you needed your time and if you really wanted to, you'd take me up on the raincheck so..."

"I was waiting for you to ask again." Peggy added. " You never did, so I started to think that maybe you lost interest and then...well then you took the job here..."

"It was a promotion. One that should have gone to you but..,"

"No, Daniel , you deserve it. I... but that isn't the point. You left."

"I didn't think there was anything left in Brooklyn for me to stay for. My entire family is scattered across the country now, and the ones in New York told me to definitely go for it. They'd have an excuse to go to California..."

"I have one too." Peggy said, a smile on her face.

"You're upset that I left?"

"Yes. But...not as upset as I guess I deserve. We did both kind of lose each other in the communication. Unless..." All of a sudden she looked...vulnerable. Daniel had never seen her look this vulnerable, not even for the friends she lost during the war. She only ever looked this way when she talked about her parents. Or Rogers.

"Unless?"

"Unless you really don't...you aren't interested anymore. I'd understand." She said she would understand but her expression said otherwise.

"I still do." He admitted. 

"Well then, what should we do about this development Chief Sousa?" she asked, a grin spreading on her face, leaning closer to him. His expression matched hers. He leaned closer as well and then...

"MISTLETOE!" Thompson's loud, drunk voice killed the moment faster than a light could turn off. They started and pushed away from each other, or rather Peggy moved, and Daniel sat as far back in his chair as he could, glaring at his colleague. "It's mistletoe! You gotta kiss, it's tr-tra-tri...it's the rule!" Daniel was imagining ten different scenarios where he could get away with shooting the very drunk man currently holding a sprig of the cursed berry over him and Peggy.He wondered if it was possible to get Thompson grounded to the office.

"Thompson..." Daniel gritted through his teeth. "go away."

"Ohhh Danny boy is mmmmad!" Stark slurred, grabbing the back of an empty chair to stabilize himself. 

"Oh come on Daniel, let's give them what they want so they'll leave us alone." Peggy's voice was so cool and collected, Daniel eyed her questioningly. She grinned and he smiled back.

"Alright, if you insist." Daniel replied, getting up and steadying himself on the table. Peggy got up, with a smirk Daniel could only describe as devilish, and moved close towards him. 

"Oh but I do, I really do." Peggy leaned in closer, an inch away from Daniel. "Wouldn't want to disappoint them."

"Of course not." Daniel breathed, before leaning in and closing the gap. They heard Thompson whoop in triumph, and clapping from a few people nearby, but they didn't matter. The only thing that mattered to them was each other. Peggy moved closer, taking hold of part of the jacket Daniel was wearing, both lost in one another.

"I did it! I -id it! I got them to-ge...they kissed! You're welcome! Name a kid after me and we're even!" Thompson shouted before stumbling back to his table a few tables away.

"No!  Not fair! If anyone is having a kid named after them it's me! Peg..Pegs...Peggy's known me for years!" Stark countered, stumbling after him. 

When Daniel and Peggy finally broke, they rested their foreheads against each other's and smiled.

"Happy Christmas Chief Sousa."

"Happy Christmas Agent Carter." 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I wrote this half awake. Hope you like it!
> 
> HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!


	29. Drinks?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A discussion shelved indefinitely about a night with too much wine gets taken off the shelf.

* * *

 

"Are we ever going to talk about what happened before you left for Los Angeles?" Daniel looked up from the files he'd been reading, strewn over the half of his desk he was occupying, Peggy using the other half. His right eyebrow went up and he eyed her questioningly. 

"I didn't realize there was anything to talk about." Daniel replied, looking back down at the file on Dottie Underwood that they'd recently compiled. "It was a fairly open and shut incident. Or so I believed." 

"Was it though?" Peggy set down the papers she'd been half-heartedly reading for the last hour. "I mean we didn't...we didn't really talk about it after."

"It wasn't exactly...the most dignified situation." Peggy blushed at that. No, it hadn't been a very dignified situation at all. She'd asked him if he was still interested in drinks a couple of weeks after he'd initially asked her, and since she didn't really want to deal with people at bars and he didn't either, they had drinks at her (Stark's) house in the main lounge. They had reminisced about the war, Peggy told him about her time in training, rising through the ranks, catching the attention of Chester Philips himself, and becoming an important part of the war effort. Daniel told her about the day he was shot and the week after, and how he kept waking up during the surgery, how the pain killers weren't as effective as the doctor and nurses had hoped,  and one nurse shoved a rubber cylinder in his mouth and told him to hold her hand and squeeze if he needed. About how people treated him afterwards. They talked about childhood crushes and first loves. He told her about growing up in a tiny house in Boston with his parents and four siblings, his next door neighbor David and him sneaking to the corner store at night to buy oranges and chocolates for a penny a piece (With the money they got from their allowances.)  and putting them on their respective dining room tables as gifts for their families. She told him about growing up in England, ice skating with her brother and her parents. The day her parents died and when her and her brother were taken in by a neighbor. He told her how he had two nieces from his sister Marie. She told him her brother was getting married soon and how upset she was that she couldn't make it to the wedding. 

They felt cozy and warm in front of the fire, the bottle they had on the table empty, another one closeby. Peggy couldn't stop looking at his eyes, so open and wide and projecting his emotions like a projection on a screen at the theater. He really was good looking. He tried not to lean into her and smell the perfume she had on, to touch her arm, to draw her closer. Fueled by alcohol and the mood of the room, they leaned in at the same time and the moment their lips met, Peggy felt like she was on fire. Daniel sucked in a breath, somewhat surprised that she was kissing him back. After a couple of minutes Peggy moved herself even closer, heart racing, heat pooling deep in her torso, straddling him she grabbed the fabric of his shirt and pulled him up higher. Daniel thought momentarily of their current situation and the current situation in his pants, before that worry flew out of his mind when he felt Peggy take one of his hands and put it on her waist, while the other went...

"I had been having a rather ...nice time." Peggy said, blushing at the memory. From the red on Daniel's cheeks, he had been thinking about it as well. "I thought... I thought you had been as well..."

"I had." Daniel admitted. "Perhaps a little too much of a good time."

"I see." Peggy felt her blush deepen. Had she misunderstood what Daniel had been feeling for her? She had been under the impression that his infatuation had been more than physical. "Well then I...I mean...I'm sorry." Daniel finally made himself look up at her at that comment, eyes curious. Now she was confused because she could swear she saw hurt in his expression.

"You're sorry? About what? Kissing me?"

"Well I mean...yes... I didn't mean to..." Daniel was now flustered, files forgotten, he was now wishing the world would split open and swallow him whole. He'd experienced at least four earthquakes since he moved to Los Angeles almost a year ago. Why couldn't one of California's famous earthquakes occur now and just take him so he could avoid feeling so utterly embarrassed as he did now? 

How could he think she would ever be interested in him like that? 

"Didn't mean to. Right. Okay. Well... I'm glad we talked about this. Cleared the air." Daniel picked up the files he abandoned and made a show of dropping the discussion, but his face was burning hot from embarrassment. 

Peggy, from her seat across the desk, was still blushing as well but she saw the look on his face, the fact that he was flustered. The fact that in a moment, she saw a look of being completely crushed, one she knew all too well.

He thought she wasn't interested in him like that. He thought she didn't want him. He thought she was sorry she kissed him because she didn't want to kiss him.

Meanwhile she had sat there under the impression that he had only liked her for her looks and was like every other guy out there.

They were a mess.

"We haven't though." Peggy said, her tone  a mixture of confidence and a bit of fear.

"Haven't what?"

"Clear the air. We haven't cleared the air at all."

"Look, Peggy, it's fine. I... we'll be fine. I misinterpreted the..."

"No you didn't." Peggy cut in. " You didn't misinterpret anything Daniel. I do...I do want to be with you. Quite  a bit actually." There went the eyebrow again, and Peggy had to fight the smile that was forcing it's way through. Now wasn't the time. "I think we both panicked, the way people do sometimes when they're on the edge of something new, something strong, something...potentially permanent."

"Permanent?" Peggy deemed it safe to smile and she did, earning a smile back from the man sitting across from her.

"So, Daniel, I only have one question for you before we go back to reading the endlessly tedious files that we already know by heart." Peggy began, sitting back in her chair and looking at him.

"And that is?"

"Would you like to get drinks after work later?" Peggy smirked at the small blush that flushed across Daniel's face at the repeating of his words from last year.

"Well I don't know..." He started after he recovered. "...I've had such a busy day and see, Thompson doesn't know how to tell Adam from Eve in a line-up so..."

"Agent Sousa I swear..."

"Chief Sousa. Yes you do swear, a lot. I like it." Peggy rolled her eyes and that caused another bout of laughter from Daniel. "And the answer is yes."

"Good."

 

The End. 


	30. Things Aren't So Bad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Based on a few spoilers from S2, Peggy and Daniel are trapped in a basement, awaiting their backup to find them, and finally have a talk many months in the making.

* * *

 

“Well this is a bloody nuisance.” Peggy muttered, walking around the room for the fifth time, trying to find a weak spot. “Ambushed and locked in a bloody basement.” She turned when she heard a thump, and ran over the heap on the floor that was Chief Daniel Sousa. “What happened?” She asked, helping him get back up and grabbing his crutch from where it’d flung across the room. Handing it back to him, she looked at him concerned. “Dan-Chief Sousa, what…”

“Oil spill. This must be where they make the bombs and the machines they send them out in.” Daniel replied, voice hard and on edge. “Not that that matters since they cleared everything out and left barely a thing to go on.” He winced, and Peggy restrained herself from touching him, trying to see how hurt he really was.

“Your forensics team is good. I’m sure they’ll find something.” Peggy replied, leaning against one of the tables and sighing. “Your people know where we are. Mr. Jarvis and Stark know. We just need to…”

“Wait.” Daniel finished, grimacing.

“Yes. We wait.” She watched Daniel closely without giving it away, or so she hoped. It had hurt, when she found out that Thompson had lied when he said Daniel asked for her specifically. His look of surprise when he saw her come into the bullpen was enough, but when he told her he had no idea Thompson was sending her… Of course it wasn’t his fault, but she had wished he hadn’t looked so…what? What was it about his look of surprise that had bothered her then and still did? Not just that the look was surprise but there was something else there that had given her more than one sleepless night since she’d gotten there four months ago.

Upset. He’d also looked upset. He had been surprised and upset that she was there. But why? Daniel had left two months after the whole incident with Stark. Not four days passed between the call received by Thompson, Daniel being called into the office, that he was on a plane to Los Angeles, the contents of his apartment and desk on the plane with him. She had thought it was odd that he hadn’t considered the offer longer than he had. He was usually so methodical in his ways, doing research and analyzing all the facts at hand intensely before coming to a conclusion. It was how he’d found her out. He’d been in L.A. for five months when he’d called the east coast office for backup. Not specifically her. Just backup. And he’d been surprised and upset when it had been her that had been sent. Not that he turned her away nor would he deny her help now that she was there, he’d been a good boss and a perfect gentleman, he’d never be that type, the type to be openly hostile. (At least not without a spectacular reason.) He’d been…well…Daniel. His quick departure, with barely a word to anyone, had been suspicious to everyone, except, much to her surprise, Thompson. She had wondered aloud about Daniel’s quick departure, saying it was off for Daniel to leave so quickly for no reason whatsoever. This had prompted Thompson, who’d been sitting across from her at the conference table while they’d gone over a stack of case files, to say “He had his reasons.” When she’d tried to get him to follow up on that statement, he grew quiet. She wondered…

“Sousa,” she began, noting that he’d settled himself somewhat comfortably in a chair nearby, still slightly wincing. “did you leave because of me?” Daniel winced again, rubbing at where his prosthesis was no doubt hurting him. She’d have to talk to Stark about him making a more comfortable one. But she also noticed he wouldn’t meet her eyes, and she felt like her question had already been answered.

“I’m sorry?” Daniel asked, staring at the wall across from them.

“Did you…did you leave the east coast office because of me?”

“I was offered a job as chief of my own office. I’d say that would be a rather convincing reason to move somewhere. For a promotion. One that might be an only chance sort of ordeal.”

“You are well liked, you work hard. Even that hardarse from before that gave Thompson his promotion has been heard saying you’re on your way to great things. Colonel Philips himself said as much as well.”

“What’s your point Carter?”

“This wouldn’t have been a once in a life time chance at a promotion.” She stated simply, looking at her hands and resisting the urge to look at him.

“Maybe, maybe not. I wasn’t ready to take that chance. Given the S.S.R. track record, it isn’t that surprising is it?”

“Daniel…” she could feel his eyes on her now. She hardly used his first name anymore, only a handful of times since he’d become Chief Sousa. “…you left so quickly. You had made your decision before your meeting with Thompson was even over…”

“It was a promo…”

“A promotion, yes. You said. But …didn’t you have any pause? You grew up there didn’t you? Spent your whole life there, came back there after the war. Your family…”

“Is scattered all through the country. My parents even moved out here after I did. Apparently they were looking for an excuse to move and they got one. Now it’s me and my older brother and two of my sisters.”

“What about your friend David?” Peggy wondered if he would be surprised that she’d remembered the name of his childhood and still best friend, whom he’d told her about ages ago after they had first met.

“He actually took a job out here as well. I put in a good word for him with a company run by one of my neighbors.” Daniel yawned, which made Peggy want to yawn as well. They’d been up for three days straight on the current lead in the case.

She hadn’t seen where he lived now. She didn’t see where he’d lived back in Brooklyn. She wondered what it looked like, what sorts of things he used to decorate his home. He had a large family and was sentimental. There were probably a fair amount of photos. He had taste, but he wasn’t stuffy, he wouldn’t fill his home with all the same things Stark often did. A few nice looking pieces here and there but not super expensive. Daniel was charming, he probably could bargain down a price at an antique shop like a master. He mentioned he was a good cook, something he’d learned from his parents and grandparents. Old recipe books and pots along with other keepsake kitchenware would be in his kitchen, no matter how small or big it was. He mentioned once that his mother had insisted on framing his medals from the war, and that they went on the mantle wherever he went.

“So…”

“I had nothing keeping me in Brooklyn.” Daniel replied, joining her in staring at the wall.

“Nothing.” Peggy repeated, feeling a bit…what? Hurt? Crushed? Unsure? Angry?

“Nothing at all. So you didn’t leave because of me because I wasn’t important enough to be considered in that equation.” She winced after the words came out of her mouth. She knew that wasn’t a fair thing to say but …she couldn’t help herself. She was stressed, the case had been a nightmare, and she still couldn’t… she wanted to know.

“Carter…oh my god, we are not having this discussion right now.” Daniel replied, feeling his already present dull headache to one of massive proportions.

“That implies that there is a discussion to have Sousa, which you have made very clear there isn’t.” Snappish and petty she knew, but this was a discussion that was long overdue, and she’d be damned if she let him get out of it. She knew exactly how to push his buttons.

“What does it matter Carter? Why does it matter that I left so suddenly?”

“You’re my friend. My only friend in the office. Thompson’s a nuisance when there is two of us, alone he’s a nightmare.”

“You said yourself he was getting better. Giving you cases and more duties that aren’t the stuff he was putting you through before. It does change a person’s opinion of you when you wipe the floor with them. Multiple times.” That earned a smile from Peggy, despite herself, and her smile got a smile from him.

“He’s still annoying. It’s part of his nature.” Peggy returned.

“True...So you missed your friend, and that’s why you are mad at me for leaving so quickly.” Daniel stated, although she heard the inflection in his voice. She wondered, for the first time since this sort-of conversation started, if she herself was ready for this conversation as well. This conversation could make or break their already currently fragile relationship, and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to potentially lose him.

“Isn’t that a good enough reason? I was under the impression we were on good terms as…friends.” Peggy wondered why she just couldn’t come out and say it, was she really that scared? She was Agent Peggy Carter of the S.S.R., she took flack from no one and didn’t back down from any man. Men didn’t scare her, nor did their words. Except right now, there was one man who had the potential to hurt her, and that was scaring her more than she wanted to admit.

“We were. We are.” Daniel felt the flush creep up his cheeks. He didn’t know how to feel about this conversation. He didn’t dare get his hopes up, not since her arrival. He thought if he left Brooklyn, if he left the east coast for good, he’d be able to get over her and start over. It hadn’t been solely his feelings for her that made him want to leave; the entire incident with Stark had been trying, and all his beliefs in the world had been challenged. His abilities as an agent and being able to know who it was he was looking at entirely, were put into question and flipped on its back. He needed room to breathe, to think. He needed to get away from it all, but mostly…mostly he needed to be away from Peggy. Their relationship as more than friends wasn’t leading anywhere. She’d said she wanted a rain check and that they’d do it another day, but she never brought it up again and he didn’t want to be presumptuous. They’d been friendly but that’s all they ever really were. Friendly. She showed no signs of being interested in him as more than a friend, and that was fine. Just because he…she owed him nothing and the only anger or sadness he felt towards the situation was at himself. So he understood, but that didn’t mean he had to stay forever and watch his humiliation (Everyone in the office knew. Even Rose from downstairs knew and she barely talked to him.) continue on as he foolishly chased after her in his own quiet way. So when he got the opportunity…

“Except I thought… I guess I just… I thought that maybe you and I…”

“You thought…what?” Daniel asked, sitting up in his chair, turning his attention back to her. Peggy felt her own cheeks flush and she stood up from where she’d been leaning.

“Nothing Sousa, forget it.”

“No, no you were the one that wanted to have this conversation.” Daniel got himself up from his chair, steadying himself on his crutch and burning a hole in the back of her head from looking at her. “What did you think when it came to the two of us?”

“Well, I thought...I guess I had thought that maybe you and I would …start something.”

“Start something?”

“I thought you…I thought you were interested in me romantically. Apparently I was wrong. I misinterpreted. Let’s just drop it, please.”

“You didn’t.” Daniel replied. “I didn’t…I didn’t exactly make it subtle now did I? The entire office knew I was in love with you. Even Krzeminski knew.” Peggy sucked in a breath when he said love. She knew he’d been infatuated, yes, and was somewhat ashamed to admit she’d used the fact that he had feelings for her to escape when he’d cornered her in the alley. But she hadn’t known that he was in love with her. She wondered when it’d gone from a simple crush to…something more. She felt conflicted once more, wondering if she was ready for something like this. If she was ready for love again. Daniel seemed like the one and done type. Find someone, marry, and that was it for life. He was careful, calculated in his own way. Methodical and always at the ready. He was strong and extremely clever. He had figured her out and held his own against Dottie Underwood. He had a decorated career in the Army and several medals.

“You were…I didn’t…I mean. Oh god, I am not good with conversations like this.”

“Oh come on Carter, you knew I had feelings for you.”

“Yes.” Peggy sighed. They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of them wanting to be the first to speak. Finally, Peggy, who had been thinking over what he had been saying, spoke. “Was in.”

“Sorry?” Daniel asked from his spot by one of the windows.

“Was in. Had.” Peggy repeated. “You were in love with me. You had feelings for me.”

“Yes.”

“So…you don’t anymore.” The air became thick all of a sudden and she felt more nervous than she had been before. So he didn’t have feelings for her anymore. Well then, that was…

“I never said I didn’t have feelings for you anymore.” Daniel said quietly. Peggy hated how those words made her heart leap.

“I see.” Peggy smiled brightly, feeling some butterflies flitting around in her stomach, and feeling slightly foolish. She was an agent of the S.S.R. and she currently felt like a school girl.

“I did leave mostly because of you.” Daniel said after a while.

“I see.” Her smile faltered a bit at that.

“I … everything after the whole incident with the Russians was so intense, it completely flipped everything I knew on its head. And then… we just… it became clear to me that our relationship wasn’t going to go…in the direction I was hoping for…and that’s fine. Neither of us owes the other anything. If the feelings aren’t there then they aren’t there. That’s fine. We just weren’t meant to be. But I needed to get away. It was too much. Too many things going on at the same time, too many bad memories. So when Thompson got the call and I was offered the job…I needed to leave. I thought…I thought if I left I could start over. I could find my place in the world again. I thought I could…come here and get over…”

“Me. You came here to get over me.” She tried to keep the hurt out of her voice but she couldn’t help it. The last year had been so chaotic and confusing for her. She had…fancied Daniel just a bit for a while there, around when they first started working with each other, but she copped that up to him being the only person in the office who treated her like an equal, and thought it was just her genuine affection for a nice person and nothing more. She had to admit she was always happy to see him. (Except for the times when he was…you know…hunting her down, but who could really blame him for that? He was only doing his job after all. She’d easily knocked out Thompson and his men but when she saw Daniel… she figured she probably could have out run him, although he was faster than most people gave him credit for. And he was a crack shot.) He made her laugh. She hadn’t laughed much since the war. And he was rather handsome, what with his dark hair, piercing eyes, and she had, discretely, watched him while talked, wondering what it would be like to…

“Well, what do you want me to say Carter? I don’t think you’d want me to lie to you…”

“No, of course not.”

“I hear our rescue approaching.” Daniel said, the distant sound of doors being broken down and men shouting coming from where they figured the front door was.

“Sousa…can I ask you something, one last private thing before they get here?”

“Sure Carter.”

“You said you came here to get over me because…you were in love with me, and you said you still have some feelings for me, but… I …are you still in love with me?” They could hear the men coming down the hallway. Daniel turned to her, a look of surprise and then a smile forming on his face.

“And why would it be important that I was still in love with you Carter?” Peggy returned his smile and walked over to where he was by the window.

“Oh I don’t know,” she began, leaning against the wall and facing him, a foot away. “Maybe I was wondering if you would be interested in finally having that drink at mine.” Daniel’s eyebrows shot up.

“We’ll have you out in a minute sir! Agent Carter! Are you two alright?!” the voice of Agent Jensen, Daniel’s second in command and really one of the nicest men Peggy had ever met, shouted through the door.

“We’re fine Jensen! Thank you! And good work!” Daniel called back, eyes not leaving Peggy’s. They were both grinning at each other now.

“So what do you say…Chief Sousa? Care to join me at Stark’s mansion for a drink? The Jarvis’ keep to themselves for the most part and Stark is terrified of me, I can make him leave us alone as well.” Daniel’s grin turned into a smirk, and Peggy felt a warm feeling in the lower part of her torso, as well as a blush forming.

“Sounds like a date Carter.”

“Tonight at 7.” Peggy added, as the door crashed open.

“Tonight at 7.” Daniel repeated, nodding.

* * *

 

That night, by 7:30 pm, Daniel and Peggy were sitting on one of the couches in the study of Howard Stark’s mansion, drinks in hand, fireplace burning bright, the only source of light besides a lamp nearby. And outside by the door?

“Anna, this isn’t a good idea. That woman could kill anyone with her bare arms.” Stark whispered to the curly haired red head peeking through the ever so slightly cracked door.

“Yes, I know that Howard. I’ve become good friends with Peggy, in case you forgot.” She whispered back.

“Anna, love, I do seem to remember Ms. Carter asking us to not do exactly what it is you are doing now. She deserves her own privacy, especially when it comes to…”

“Yes, I know that _dear Eddie_.” Anna whispered back, turning to her husband and giving him an exaggerated eye roll. “We’ll leave in a minute. I just want to get an eye on Chief Sousa.”

“Anna, you’ve met several times. He’s come to parties and get togethers here and back on the east coast. You even baked that birthday cake for him last month…”

“Yes dear,” Anna began again, exasperated. “I know that. But what I have not gotten to see is him with Peggy on a date. People are always different when on dates. I want to have ample blackmail material as well as stories to embarrass both of them with some day when I babysit their children.”

“Aren’t you kinda jumping the gun here Anna? They’re only on their first date and you’re already planning things you’ll do when you babysit their kids.” Stark pointed out, although he was grinning.

“I know a lasting couple when I see them. I am marvelous with this kind of stuff. Now shush Howard, or I will take all the alcohol in the house and pour it in the ocean.” Anna replied sweetly, looking at the man right in the eyes, before turning back to the crack in the door. “She just scooted up next to him, she put her arm around his shoulder. Damn, I wish I could see their faces. I can barely see the tops of their heads…”

“They’re still there.” Daniel whispered to Peggy, who giggled and nodded.

“Yes, they are. They aren’t as subtle as they believe they are, and not as quiet either. It’s probably Anna at the door. They’ll leave eventually.”

“You have some interesting friends there Peggy, and I mean that in a nice way.” Peggy grinned and put her head on his shoulder, resting against both her arm and him, looking at the flames dancing in the fireplace.

“I do.” Peggy agreed, the hand that was attached to the arm slung over his shoulder slowly starting to move. Her fingers brushed against the upper part of his arm lightly, making him squirm lightly, which caused her to grin. “Although there’s only one acquaintance I would want to be here with, and do this with the possibility of, some day, something a little more…intimate?” she looked up in time to witness him suck in a breath and she was sure he was blushing, even though it was hard to tell in this light.

“Is that so?”

“Oh indeed.” Peggy replied, sitting up a bit more and turning towards him. “I’ve got plans for you Daniel Sousa.”

“Oh really?” Daniel, still blushing, was grinning back at her.

“Oh yes, we have so much…lost time to make up for.” Peggy leaned in close, mere inches away, and put her hands on his chest, moving them up his shirt and onto his shoulders, feeling his heart beat fast as her hands passed by. “Would you mind terribly if I were to kiss you right now Daniel?”

“Oh I wouldn’t mind at all Peggy.” Daniel replied his breathing a bit heavy.

“Good.” Peggy closed the gap between them, and couldn’t help laughing into the kiss when she heard Anna Jarvis squeak from behind the door, and Mr. Jarvis’ ‘Anna really! We must go now.’, and Stark’s ‘Damn.’. After they heard the retreat of footsteps outside, she relaxed more into him, and moved even closer.

Things weren’t as bad as she’d thought after all.

The end.


	31. Reasons Daniel Sousa Won't Drink With Rose Roberts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from claras-wintersoldier on Tumblr "For the Peggysous prompt Daniel confesses to someone (I'll let you choose) that he still has feelings for Peggy and doesn't know what to do about Violet." 
> 
> Aka...
> 
> The Reasons Daniel Sousa Won't Drink With Rose Roberts.

* * *

 

It had been a rough day. 

No, rough day was an understatement. 

It had been an astronomically awful, terrible, no good day.

Thompson and his new overlord goons had been a nuisance since they arrived. The only comfort Daniel got was when he kicked them out around noon, and was backed by everyone in the office.  The look on Thompson and his friends' faces when Rose opened the door and told them not to let it hit them in the ass on the way out was priceless.

And to top it all off...

To top it all off, in the most cliche of cliche situations, when he and Peggy were tracking down some of the latest bad guys in a long, never ending list of bad guys, they had gotten trapped, just for a bit, in a room. Tensions between them had been high since she had gotten to L.A., and they both kept avoiding the real conversation they knew they needed to have.

What surprised him the most about the whole thing was she talked first. 

_"Daniel, seeing as the possibility of us dying has gone up astronomically in the last hour, I doubt I could rest peacefully without telling you what I need to tell you. I'm not good at this, and I daresay you aren't either, but I need to say this. I like you, a lot. In fact, I daresay I'm well on my way to being in love with you, maybe I already am. When you left, I was hurt, yes, Angie can attest to that. But then a part of me thought it wouldn't be so bad. There are phones after all. But you never...you only called once. I was hurt. But then I came here and I had his hope, this hope that you and I could finally ...start up, or however one would phrase it. And then...and then I found out you'd moved on and I felt heartbreak once again. I knew I shouldn't have felt what I did. We were never actually together but I had thought... and I know you've moved on, and I respect that Daniel, but again, seeing as we're possibly about to die..."_

_"I never got over you." He'd cut in. "I thought I had. I thought I'd moved on with Violet. I love her. But then you walked into the office and everything came flooding back. And I won't lie to you Peggy, I was angry that it had. I was so sure I had truly moved on, because I felt like I had to. And we just...you and I work so well together it was unavoidable that we would work together, closely. When you went missing that one night Peggy...it was like my entire world was crashing down around me. The thought that you might be dead scared me more than anything in my entire life."_

_"Oh." He heard her suck in a breath, both of their backs were to the wall of the room they were in, eying the door. "Oh well..but...Violet..."_

_"Yeah. Violet."_

_"You're a good man Daniel." The way Peggy had said those words ringed of remorse, and, though it caused him an immense amount of guilt, he felt a bit of remorse as well._

"You alright Chief?" Daniel started, looking up from his desk at Rose, who was standing in the doorway, hands behind her back, leaning against the door jam and giving him a look that was pure Rose, concern mixed with 'Why are all the people I care about so reckless?'. He came to know it well since he started at the SSR. 

"No." Daniel replied honestly, feeling his resolve crumble. Lying to Rose was pointless. She saw all anyway. She'd gotten a reputation among the office for being terrifyingly perceptive, to the point where his people started going to her as if she were a fortune teller. 

"Didn't think so." Rose said, pushing off the door and walking into the office, her hands coming from behind her back. A bottle of whisky and a couple of glasses. "Not the best solution, I realize that, but it'll do. Friend in need and all that." She set a glass in front of him and one in front of her across the desk, before setting the bottle down between them and nudging it his way. He eyed her skeptically. "What?" she asked, with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it grin.

"Drinking with you has been dangerous in the past."

"I know." 

"I've divulged some embarrassing stuff when drinking with you."

"I know." 

"Stuff only David knows."

"Chief, I know things not even your best old pal David knows." Daniel groaned at that and she laughed. "Relax, it's not like I tell." 

" I know." Daniel pulled the bottle towards himself and poured himself a generous share before pouring Rose some and settling back. 

"So," Rose began, sitting back herself. "tell me about Daniel as a child. I want to hear about you and David as mischief making munchkins."

An hour, and most of the bottle, passed and they were laughing. Daniel telling her story after story of all the trouble him and his childhood best friend David got into as kids, Rose telling him about her experiences working as a nurse in the army during the war and a bit about her own childhood. Both were thankful the office was empty. Everyone went home to spend time with their families and Peggy...Peggy had been whisked away by Mr. Jarvis, and when Daniel looked out the window, he saw a red-headed woman whom he assumed to be Mrs. Jarvis, leap out of the car, bear hug Peggy, and all but shove her into the car with a blanket, then they left. 

"I'm in love with Peggy." Daniel said suddenly, inwardly wincing at suddenly declaring such a thing to his friend. 

"I know." Rose replied, setting her glass down, putting it on a pen by accident, then swearing and tossing the pen off the desk before setting her glass where the pen had been.

"What?"

"I..."a hiccup "I know you're in love with Peggy Chief. You..." Yet another hiccup. "...you sir are an open book. At least to me." 

"Oh god..." Daniel groaned again and put his head in his hands. Rose sighed. 

"Daniel..." Rose sat up, wobbled a bit, dizzy, and then put her arms on the table, leaning in towards her friend. "...you aren't really ever going to get over Peg are you?" Daniel shook his head. "Didn't think so. So...so the question is...oh my god, the room is spinning...the question is ..." 

"What do I do?" Rose nodded in confirmation. "I don't know." 

"You were pretty upset that one night we thought Peggy might be gone for good. And many times after."

"I just... the thought of her not being with us anymore made me..."

"Oh hun, you don't need to say anything. I know."

"But I love Violet too." 

"I believe you." Rose replied, suddenly tired and overwhelmed by the day. "You're good people Daniel." 

"That's what Peggy told me today." Rose's head shot up and she swore. 

"Peg told you you were a good person? Not that you aren't, but what brought on such a statement?" 

"I...we sort of talked. When we were trapped."

"Oh really? And?"

"She told me she was in love with me. And that she was already starting to fall in love with me before I left and then when I did leave... and then when she came here she knew she was...still was...still did have feelings for me and that knowing I'd moved on..."

"But you haven't." Rose added. Daniel rolled his eyes.

"No, I most certainly haven't, and I told her as much."

"So you two have sort of let it all out. Now what?" 

"I don't know, that's the problem." Daniel sighed heavily in frustration and sat back in his chair. Rose grabbed the whisky bottle and poured them each a bit more.

"Okay, let's look at it this way," she began, tipping the glass up and then down to drink, head still on one of her arms on the desk, Daniel mimicking her. " say things moved alo-along with you and Violet, and you get engaged and then married. Would it be fair to any of you? I wouldn't think so. Not to Peggy, even if she did get married to someone else as well. Not to you, because you wouldn't be marrying the person you wanted to marry. You wouldn't be marrying who truly had your heart forever." she paused and took another sip from her glass. "And it certainly wouldn't be fair to dear Violet. She's a sweet girl Daniel, and I have a sneaking suspicion she already has a suspicion that your heart might be with someone else. You two would be, in a way, living a lie. It might be kinder to stop that before it happens."

"What if I'm not who Peggy wants to be with forever though? What if we didn't work out? What if we're just...fooling ourselveS?" 

"Well, I doubt that'll happen but if it does, well, then it does. At least you wouldn't be lying to yourself or to anyone else. And I have it on fairly good authority, myself and my observations, that if you took that risk it would work out." Rose swirled the amber liquid in the glass, suddenly mesmerized. "You two, you two are the real deal, even if you don't see it yet." 

"So, wise Rose, what do I do now?" Daniel asked, blinking at the ceiling fan above him.

"You're gonna have to end things with Violet. Just be honest with her. She's smart. Like I said, I think she's seen this coming. You two aren't exactly subtle, you and Peg. You think you are, but you aren't. "

"Everyone at the New York office knew." Daniel commented, wincing. 

"Honey, everyone at _this_ office knows." Rose said, giggling. This time, Daniel's groan of agony sent her into a fit of laughter, and after a minute, Daniel grinned. 

"We're a mess."

"Who? You and Peg? Why yes Chief I agree." 

"Cheeky."

"You wouldn't have me any other way Daniel Sousa, so don't even try to act otherwise." Rose said, slowly getting up. "I'm thinking...taxi." 

"I'm just going to sleep here. Couch is comfortable enough and I just...don't want to go home right now." 

" Wise idea." Rose replied. "You're welcome, by the way. I made sure that couch was comfortable because I know you Sousa." 

"Thank you Rose." 

As Daniel drifted off to sleep, he couldn't help the smile that was pulling at his lips. Drinking with Rose might usually be a bad idea, but sometimes it was rather useful.

Hopefully he'd remember the conversation in the morning...

 

The End.


	32. Destruction And Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from that-one-fandom-chick on Tumblr "After just watching the premiere something I really want to see is what was going through Sousa's mind when he went in his office and starting breaking things with his crutch or a scene where either Jarvis or Rose tries to tell Peggy how Sousa reacted in the office." 
> 
> I went with Jarvis telling Peggy. :)

* * *

 

Peggy tried not to let the last few days get to her, but it was just so  _bloody difficult_. 

She sipped her whisky, grateful for Ana's intuition, and sighed. What a mess she had gotten into. 

Jason Wilkes was gone, missing. Possibly...probably dead, and another set of bad guys were out for her head. She thought about the people she cared about, the people she loved, and what this development meant for their safety. Her brother back in England. The Howling Commandos. Howard Stark. Angie. The Jarvises. 

Daniel. 

Yes, she finally concluded, Daniel was among those she loved dearly. In some ways she loved him the same way she loved the others, but... 

'You don't just love the man, you're  _in love_  with him.' A voice in her head, that sounded a whole lot like Angie, piped in. 

"Oh rubbish." she said to the air.

"What's rubbish, Miss Carter?" Peggy started, spilling some of her whisky on her lap.

"Damn." she muttered. 

"Sorry." Mr. Jarvis grabbed a handkerchief from the dresser and walked over to where she was sitting by the window. 

"It's fine." Peggy replied, taking the cloth from him and dabbing at her lap. "How are you Mr. Jarvis? I thought you and Ana went to bed at 9. It's well past." 

"She thought I should talk to you since I've known you longer. A friendly ear and all that. Although she did point out that I might not be able to entirely understand since I was a man. Which made me flush quite a bit, and she laughed." Peggy grinned. 

"There's not much to say Mr. Jarvis." Peggy set her glass down on the windowsill and looked at her friend.

"Oh I beg to differ. There's a lot to say. Many things have happened since you've got here Miss Carter. You have quite a nose for trouble." Peggy rolled her eyes. " I'm sorry about Dr. Wilkes." 

"Thank you." Peggy replied, turning back to the window. "I'm just...it happened so fast and so sudden, I barely got the chance to get to know him. Seems like the universe is conspiring to keep me away from any man I have or could have feelings for. I'll end up an old woman alone, just like that rude girl Amelia who lived down the street from me always said." 

"Well, I don't know about Amelia, but I don't think you'll be alone Miss Carter. And what kind of name is Amelia anyway? Rubbish." Peggy let out a whoop of genuine laughter, which made Mr. Jarvis smile. "There's a laugh then." 

"Yes, indeed. Amelia was... I guess I'm not being 100 % fair. She had an awful home life. She also enlisted but as a nurse. She's... she's dead now. Killed during an air raid, she wouldn't leave her patients. A mutual friend told me." 

"I'm sorry." 

"It's alright." Peggy sighed again, suddenly feeling very tired. "I barely knew her." 

"Still, I've found that a loss of someone you knew, even if you didn't know them well, still gets to a person. Death affects us in odd ways."

"Yes it does. And we all seem to die in such interesting ways." Peggy thought for a bit and then winced. "He has family, friends. Not many, but some. I suppose we'll have to track them down and tell them the news. They deserve to know."

"And who would we have called if it'd been you Miss Carter?" Mr. Jarvis asked, taking a chair from a nearby table and sitting down by the window next to her. She looked at him skeptically. "It was a close call, you must admit."

"True." Peggy replied. "I don't have many people I suppose. A brother in England, Charlie. My parents died when I was in my teens. The Howling Commandos." Peggy grinned "They'd be distraught, even Dum Dum, though he pretends he is a tough guy. Howard, I suppose. You and Ana. Angie Martinelli back in New York." 

"And what about Chief Sousa?" Peggy looked over at him and eyed him suspiciously. "He's your friend, is he not? I was under the impression you two are close." 

"We...we are." 

"So we'd tell him. If he wasn't already there at the scene. Although I'd hate to see what he'd do in that situation. Possibly destroy a car. Hit someone. If someone even dared to say anything bad, he'd probably shoot them without a thought." 

"I hardly think Daniel would be so dramatic." Peggy replied, her suspicions of her friend growing. He sounded fairly sure of his words.

"He nearly destroyed his office when you went missing and we thought you might be dead." Mr. Jarvis stated simply. 

"He...did?" Peggy looked at him, confused and, much as she hated to admit it, hopeful. 

"Oh yes. We got back to the office, and Rose and I were standing outside the Chief's office. He gave orders and then went into the office and closed the door. We heard him grunt, and then he proceeded to practically destroy the filing cabinets, along with quite a few papers flying, and what sounded like wood and glass breaking. I believe it was a clock."

"Did he?" 

"Oh yes." Mr. Jarvis looked out the window at the moonlight shining above and thought hard about his next words. "I don't know about you Miss Carter, but those aren't really the actions of someone who is worried about someone who is just a friend. I know I'm out of line by saying this, but Ana and I ...talked, and she told me I should tell you what I have observed." 

"Go ahead." 

" Well, the fact of the matter is that Chief Sousa has quite strong feelings for you, in fact he's in love with you. I don't doubt Miss Roberts would agree with me. When we were watching the Chief tear up his office, I commented on how it seemed like he was losing his composure. Miss Roberts said he was just worried about you and when I said we all were, she said that he had a special worry about you. And after that I observed him in the office and on the way to where we finally saw you, and indeed, I remember your earlier interactions and I must say, that man cares for you very deeply. And not just as an acquaintance or good friend. I remember...after I met Ana, I had to leave her for a bit to go retrieve a few things. When I came back to where she'd been hiding, she was no where to be found. I pretty much destroyed that little house in agony. There was no sign of her and a window was broken. I thought I saw blood. I was sure she'd been killed. I was furious with myself and with the enemy, and the war for taking away such a wonderful soul so soon from me. For taking the woman I was already in love with from me. She walked in through the front door and screamed. She thought that some German soldiers had come and destroyed the house. She saw my jacket and assumed the worst." There was silence between them for some time before either of them spoke. 

"Daniel has Violet. He's going to propose to her, I saw the ring."  

" Love has a weird way of going about. Ana and I almost didn't make it. Not for the same reason mind, but the odds against us were equally as high, if not moreso. The look on Chief Sousa's face when he was told there was no way anyone would have survived what happened back at that place was one of complete and utter heart break. Truly and fully. And then when he saw you were alive..." 

"But..." 

"I know, Miss Violet. May I...give you some advice Miss Carter?" Peggy nodded. "I wouldn't give up on Chief Sousa just yet. I know it is your life, and if you really feel like you don't want to keep fighting for that relationship, that is your decision, but I think... I think you could find something rather...beautiful with him. He seems to be a very good man."

"He is." Peggy agreed. 

"And do you... is it possible you could love him too? As more than a friend?"

"Yes." Peggy admitted, a bit reluctant.

"Well then, I believe you should, what's the phrase Mr. Stark uses? Go for it. Be patient. I have a feeling things will work out in the end." 

"Do you really?" Peggy asked, smiling at her friend.

"I do Miss Carter, I really do."

"You might as well call me Peggy Jarvis. We did just have a heart-to-heart." 

"Well then, I guess I must insist on you calling me Edwin." 

"Thank you Edwin." 

"Well,I better go to bed. Ana doesn't sleep well if I'm not there. I don't sleep well without her either. Goodnight Peggy." Mr. Jarvis said, getting up from the chair he'd occupied.

"Goodnight Edwin." Peggy called to his retreating form.

Maybe things would work out after all.

 

The End. 

 


	33. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SPOILERS!!!!
> 
> He made butterflies flutter in her stomach and she saw her future in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: THE KISS. I'M DYING!!!!!

* * *

 

This was ridiculous, she had butterflies in her stomach.

Absolutely ridiculous. She was in her 20s, a decorated war vet, she fought with the Howling Commandos for cripe’s sake! She was an adult. She did not get butterflies. She didn’t remember getting butterflies even with Steve.

But she had them now.

She was nervous. Why was she so nervous?

She’d finished her part of the paperwork twenty minutes ago and was waiting politely for Daniel to finish so they could possibly chance a talk before she left.

Before she left…

_“Or perhaps, you just need one compelling reason to stay…”_

Jarvis was really more perceptive than he had a right to be.

She admitted to herself that before the last ‘showdown’ as Stark had dubbed it, with Whitney Frost, she’d been a bit conflicted with what to do in regards to Daniel and Jason. Her heart was certainly leaning a certain way but she couldn’t ignore the small tug in another direction either.

But then, she had thought about it while she was there, and then when she saw Daniel tying the hose around his waist and running towards the device…

Daniel.

_Daniel, Daniel, Daniel._

All of her head and her heart filled with his name and his face and _him_.

Forget the rift, forget Whitney Frost. Forget all the rest of it. Forget the mission.

All she cared about then was him, and getting him back from the danger zone, and when he lifted into the sky she felt her heart stop and then start racing, hard, all in the span of a second.

And at that moment there wasn’t a choice at all. It was Daniel.

 _‘It’d always been Daniel.’_ There was that voice in the back of her head, the one that sounded suspiciously like Angie, piped up.

“Whew. That’s the last of it. The Isodyne case is officially closed.” Daniel said, after a very long silence, tossing his pen, out of annoyance she knew, on the desk.

“Congratulations Chief. Another feather in your cap.” She replied, her tone not betraying what she’d been thinking about the last few minutes. She wasn’t ready to go. Not yet.

“Well, we didn’t destroy the world. That’s a win in my book.”  Daniel smiled, tired, and leaned back in his chair.

 _‘You’re alive. That’s a win in my book.’_ Peggy thought.

There was an awkward pause and Peggy couldn’t think of a reason to stay seated. She got up, putting her hands together, poised, the speech she’d thought of on the way up the stairs on the tip of her tongue when …

“I wanted to talk to you about what happened back at the rift.”

“Oh, there’s no need to thank me…”

“Actually…” Daniel began, with a tone in his voice she couldn’t quite pin down. “I was going to say you messed up. Big time.”

Okay what now? Peggy felt her face flush.

“I’m sorry…what?”

Messed up? Saving his life was messing up? How…

“ As you’re supervisor…”

“You’re not my supervisor!”

“As _a_ supervisor…” he corrected. Did she see a hint of a smile? “ I feel obligated to tell  you that your actions were ill advised and reckless…”

What?!

“Ill advi-… Reckless?!”

 _‘If it was ill advised and reckless, I guess I’m willing to do anything for you.’_ Peggy thought.

“You’re damn right.”

Yes, there was indeed a smile. He was goading her on. Teasing her.

“By your own professed rules, you should have let me get sucked up by the rift and shut it down. Period.”

“Is that so?” Peggy felt her face flush. She knew what he was doing, and she had a feeling he knew she knew.

“Yeah.” He replied, standing up from his chair and moving closer. There were the damn butterflies again. “You talk a pretty big game when it’s your life on the line Carter, but when it’s somebody else’s?” Like someone you love. She knew the words he didn’t say. “Pretty big hypocrite.” The smug look on his face was infuriating. Still flushed, her heart beating fast, the butterflies flittering in her stomach, she was torn between wanting to slap him or kiss him. Because in that moment, she let the fact that she was irrefutably, all consuming, infuriatingly, completely in love with the man before her, sink in. She wanted to kiss that infuriating smirk right off his face. “What? Nothing to say? No quick comeback?”

And in _that_ moment, so many things flooded into her head. The panic and pure fear and agony she’d felt when looking up at Daniel as he was getting sucked up to the rift. The moment of hesitation she’d felt when he’d asked her, back in that New York alleyway, not to run. The small bit of elation when he told her he was on her side. The warmth she’d felt when he’d asked her for drinks, even though that hadn’t worked out. The feeling she’d get whenever he touched her. The warmth and love she’d felt on the couch for him after she’d fallen on the rebar. The guilt and…she hated to admit this even to herself in her own mind, the bloom of hope when he told her he and Violet were over because Violet had figured out he was in love. With her. The little jolt of excitement when they leaned into each other and almost kissed. The dream she’d had. Jarvis’ words of observation and advice…

She loved him and she’d be damned if she was going to let the universe and all the odds against her keep her away from him. She was ready to move on. She was ready to live her life. In his eyes she saw her future.

She lunged forward, months of tension between them, want, and adrenaline pumping through her veins. When they connected, she felt her own breath suck in and heard his do the same, she felt her heart beating fast, the butterflies, the warmth pooling in the pit of her stomach, but also…she felt like she was coming home.

But also…

She felt him start to slip, his crutch hanging up on the wall, and she moved with him, not wanting to lose contact even for a second. They hit the chair, hard, and, like she’d been doing this for ages, Peggy moved to sit…practically straddle, him, pushing harder, a small moan escaping from her. They broke apart, breathless, and she looked at him, smiling, a bit hopeful. Happy. She was finally letting herself have what she wanted. And she was also very aware of how the heat pooling in her stomach had grown, and she was pretty sure Daniel was…

“Good point.” Daniel admitted, his face flushed, a bit surprised, a small smile on his face. Peggy grinned widely at him before she leaned in again, taking advantage of his apparently very sturdy office chair, hands roaming, feeling a bit like she was a teenager again.

The chair eventually gave out, three months later, with a loud snap and crack, the two of them falling back with it. A moment of shock and they burst out laughing. The men in the office never let them live it down.


	34. Strange Little Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She'd lost a lot during the war, but what she gained after brought peace to her heart.

 

* * *

 

Peggy bolted upright in bed, awakened from a dream that wasn’t necessarily a nightmare, but not one she really wished to have again. In all irony, she’d wished for and received dreams like the one she’d had in the past, even two years ago the dream would have been welcome, but not anymore.

Not when it came with a price like it did in the latest dreamscape.

In her dream she was back in New York and Steve was alive. They were strolling along and came to a halt by a war memorial in Central Park. She had been happy at the beginning of the dream, her mind not noting anything amiss, but as the dream wore on, she would see things in the park, a tourist wearing a Hawaiian print shirt, a couple bickering, the woman grabbing two coffees from the vendor and putting in the right additives while the man paid, clearly a caring couple despite the arguments, a singing quartet, people riding on horses…a young man in crutches and an army uniform. As the dream went on, a sense of panic and dread overcame her, _Something is wrong, something is missing._ _Someone_ is missing. They came to the memorial and read the names on one side. Steve halted and pointed to a name on the cold black marble.

“Him, he took my place last minute in the fray. He took over the plane when I was caught up fighting the Red Skull’s henchmen. I saved him from getting his leg blown off at Bastogne. Good man.” Steve commented, his pointer finger joined by the rest of his hand, touching the memorial in remembrance, his eyes sad. Peggy’s eyes found the name he’d pointed at, and her heart caught in her throat.

_Lt. Daniel Sousa._

Suddenly she couldn’t breathe, the reality of what was missing crashing down on her.

“Daniel…” she whispered. “Daniel’s dead, he’s gone. He’s…”

“You knew him?” Steve asked innocently, his eyes wide with alarm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you two were friends.”

_‘You should have let me get sucked up by the rift and shut it down…’_

A cold sweat forming, this couldn’t be real right? This had to be a dream. Daniel was not…

‘Don’t scare me like that Peg. Don’t do that ever again. Please.’

“He was more than that.” Peggy found herself saying, her eyes unable to leave the carved marble. “He was…”

_‘She believes I’m in love with you.’_

Suddenly the world swirled around her, Steve disappeared and there was only darkness, until…

Until she woke up.

Maybe it was a nightmare after all.

She whirled her head around to her left side in search of the man in question, and when she saw no one, and felt that the sheets were cold, she temporarily panicked, thinking maybe she’d dreamed Daniel up.

But then she could smell his cologne on the sheets and in the room, and saw his jacket folded neatly on a nearby chair. His crutch and leg were gone, but his wallet was on the nightstand on his side of the bed. Suddenly, there was a knock at her door.

“Miss Carter? Are you awake?” Mr. Jarvis’ voice rang clear and strong as always through the wood, and Peggy couldn’t help but smile at her friend’s polite manner and carrying voice.

“Yes Mr. Jarvis. I am. Hold on a second.” Peggy scrambled out of bed and found a dressing robe, throwing it on and tying the knot before opening the door. On the other side stood her friend, casually dressed (for him) in dark slacks, white button up, black shoes, and an emerald green tie she recognized as the one she and Daniel had given him for his birthday a month previous. “Hello.” Peggy greeted warmly.

“Hello Miss Carter.” Mr. Jarvis replied, smiling.

“Will you ever get around to calling me Peggy one day Mr. Jarvis?”

“You do not call me Edwin, Miss Carter. I do believe it’s customary for an exchange in name calling in this particular social occurrence.” Mr. Jarvis returned, making Peggy roll her eyes,

“Fine, Edwin, will you ever get around to calling me Peggy?”

“Yes, Peggy, I believe I will. Now, I came to fetch you for breakfast. Would you like to change or do you want to come straight on down, as Mr. Stark would put it. It’s just family.” Peggy felt her heart warm up at the sound of the word ‘family’. She did have a family. An odd family, but a family none the less.

“I believe I shall just come on down.” Peggy responded, taking the arm Edwin offered. “Have you seen my missing boyfriend Edwin?” she inquired, remembering suddenly that she had no clue where Daniel was, although she knew it was somewhere on the grounds.

“Yes, in fact I do. He and Ana made breakfast together. She taught him how to prepare a traditional Hungarian breakfast, along with eggs and some other delightful items. They’re currently in the breakfast room.”

When they arrived at one of the doors to the aforementioned room, they heard a heated debate being exchanged between Howard and… Ana?

“All I’m saying is…”Howard began as they opened the door.

“No! Semmiképpen. Not ‘appening. Not this morning.”

“You were fine with making eggs when Daniel asked!” Howard countered. Peggy and Jarvis gave each other a questioning look and turned back to the scene before them. Daniel was sitting on one of the side chairs, looking like he wanted to be swallowed whole by the floor. Ana and Howard were at opposite ends of the table, Ana flustered and annoyed, Howard affronted as usual.

“Yes, because he was polite and helped me a great deal with breakfast, and also,” Ana leaned forward, although it didn’t bring her much closer to Howard at all, the table was ten feet long after all. “Hungarians eat eggs for breakfast Mr. Stark. We do not tend to eat rum soaked cakes for our morning meals.” Daniel sighed and looked around the room, his face lighting up with relief and happiness when he saw Peggy and Edwin.

“Well I still believe…”

“Peggy you’re awake! Thank you so much for retrieving her Mr. Jarvis. Won’t you come sit with me Peg?” Daniel greeted, louder than was necessary. Howard huffed and slumped back in his chair, while Ana turned bright red and sat back down, flattening down the already flat table cloth, and putting on a cheery smile.

“Good morning Miss Carter. Please sit. Eat. Your lovely boyfriend here is a very skilled cook. I barely had to teach him anything. And such a polite man as always. Very gracious.” Peggy noted the blush on Daniel’s cheeks when she came over and accepted a quick kiss from him before sitting down.

“That’s just the type of man Daniel is.” Peggy said to Ana, smiling. It really was. “Mr. Ja…Edwin tells me you taught him about traditional Hungarian breakfast?” Ana’s smile widened and she turned to look at her husband, an indescribable joy in her eyes.

“Yes. He is a good student. Very interested in learning about my culture. It was nice to talk about the days before the war. Dig in, dig in. There are also eggs and a pastry called…I’m sorry Daniel, what was it called again?”

“Pasteis de Nata. It’s sort of like an egg tart.” Daniel replied, smiling back at his friend. “My grandmother used to make them on special occasions, and taught my father how to make them too. I guess I’m just feeling a bit…homesick.” Daniel finished, picking his coffee back up.

“Yes, I understand. I too sometimes miss Hungary and my childhood home. That is why I wanted to make a traditional breakfast this morning. Please, everyone, eat, eat.”

The table lapsed into a comfortable silence; everyone putting food on their plates and adding salt or pepper, pouring coffee and passing dishes. Peggy looked sideways at Daniel and blushed when she saw he was already looking at her. Being caught, in turn, made Daniel blush as well, and Peggy smiled, taking his left hand in hers and giving it a gentle squeeze. Ana asked the table what their plans were for the day, Edwin reminded Howard that the cage for the flamingo needed to be mended after ‘Last Thursday’s incident with the laser shooter.’, Daniel asked Ana more about her childhood, and Peggy felt a peace wash over her that she didn’t know she could ever feel again after the war.

The only thing that could make this more perfect was if Angie was there with them. She’d have to make a call later on.

Here was her odd little family, taken through the wringer more times than she would have liked, but still standing strong, still proud, still fighting.

As  Howard once again broached the topic of whiskey soaked cakes to Ana, and a piece of cured meat flew across the table to land squarely in the middle of his forehead, Peggy rested her head on Daniel’s shoulder, smiling when she felt his head rest on top of hers.

It was a strange little family, but to her they were perfect.

 

The End.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Remember I take prompts! Leave them in the comments! :)


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